It seems to be a pattern that I’ve experienced more than once, finding myself in new places or situations every few years. Sometimes the changes can be quite traumatic such as my initial relocation to Malaysia. But as far as changes overall go, in time the repertoire of life has a way of balancing things out. And every now and then, unexpected surprises come knocking at the door.
This week is my first week at my new job. And so far, things are extremely good. It is an international firm with a wonderful crew of people, and my main responsibilities cover the interactive design areas. Being right in the middle of Kuala Lumpur, life does feel a bit more hectic and fast paced, but I am enjoying the adrenaline rush right now. It feels like I am back in my prime and I am ready to tackle new challenges.
There is a nice little park located at the rooftop of the office building I’m in, and I had a nice walk around the perimeter today, surveying the other gigantic structures of glass, concrete and steel surrounding me. The air was still fresh from the heavy rain that cleansed the city a few hours ago and the mood was absolutely relaxing. It will definitely be my little abode in the city whenever I need to collect my thoughts together. Urban tranquility is only a service elevator away.
Behold, my dual 18″ LCD workstation with 2 gigabytes of RAM! And yes, I can view HD media through this quite comfortably and smoothly. And I can view two IDE windows simultaneously! Now I just need to add more clutter to my desk, but that will naturally develop in time.
And in other good news, I am finally feeling like I am getting back into shape! My abs are getting a good workout from all the stair climbing I’ve been doing, and it’ll only get better from here onwards.
The more I venture out on foot into the urban pockets of Kuala Lumpur, the more and more I am falling in love with it. There is simply so much to describe, from the rustic pre-war buildings to the new skyrises made of glass and steel, there’s enough in between to satisfy just about any kind of traveler.
And while roaming the streets, I’ve found a few very cool locations for portrait and fashion photography. The first time around, the discovery happened while I was street shooting with Fatini, and on the second round, I explored the same area a bit more with Helen.
Those shots were from the same general location, but from just slightly different parts of the old building. And of course, it will be a location that I will keep going back to for future photography sessions.
The weekend has been a wonderful one and I’ve spent most of my active hours with photography. My lovely friend Fatini and I decided to hit the inner streets of Kuala Lumpur armed with our eyeballs and cameras and went out for a street-side shootout. Saturday was spent roaming around the Central Market and Petaling Street areas in downtown Kuala Lumpur and managed to make new visual discoveries. And here’s my favorite street shot for that session that pretty much summarizes it all:
Sunday morning was very much different however. We decided to wake up before dawn and head towards the Sultan Abdul Samad building to catch some dawn light shots of the moorish buildings. Everything went according to plan until we reached the destination. My body’s clockwork was not tuned to the early hour and to put it simply, shit happens.
[Insert awkward silence here]
And on top of that, I discovered that I also forgot to bring my compact flash card for my camera. Looking at the letter ‘E’ blink on the camera lcd just made my heart sink further. So I simply walked around carrying gear and tried to enjoy the urban morning light while my friend took her time composing her shots.
Lessons learned:
Tune body clockwork. Bring extra toilet paper in the car.- Get an extra compact flash card for emergencies.
I spent the last weekend in the old historical town of Malacca together with a few other photographer friends and had a wonderful time. I spent the night at the Baba House, an old colonial era hotel located nearby the infamous Jonker street. Although I did plenty of walking around in the hot tropical sun, it was a memorable little trip. Most of the time was spent roaming around the little streets lined with beautiful antique shops, and then there was the moment where I was coerced into doing the Leo of Titanic at the helm of a seafaring boat. Now that I finally have access to the internet, I will share some of the photographs that I took during the trip.
This photograph was taken nearby the main stairway entrance at the base of a hill leading towards the top where the ruins of St. Paul’s Church remains.
After a healthy hike around the hill, I arrived at the old Dutch Town Square where I was greeted by a nice bustling crowd and a vivid palette of rickshaws. I also took the opportunity to practice my camera panning technique and managed to capture a moment I was quite happy with.
The last photograph is the portrait of a musician that I met at the top of the hill. In between performances, we greeted each other and shared a moment of conversation. You can read more about his story in my Flickr entry.
My internet connection at home has been busted for more than a week now. Needless to say, my access to the net has been quite sparse. I’ve been out of town for a few days as well with many photographs to go through, and I’ll share those soon!