A Trip Filled with Food

As many of you may not know, (unless you've been watching my Instagram Stories from 7th July to the 10th) I was in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for a short trip. It was a budget trip truth be told. From the air tickets to the BnB we stayed at, everything was gotten on a budget. Sure, we had a whole lot of delays for our flight there and our BnB was pretty much an hour's journey away from the airport or more. But we can't complain, it was budget. 

I've never really been to Malaysia much, only Johor Bahru earlier this year. So I don't know what to really expect at KL. Plus, we didn't have any itinerary. You're probably going ballistic now as you read this. How can we not have a basic plan right? But that's just how we are. Even for Korea, we only knew how many days we were gonna spend in Seoul and Busan and winged the rest of it. It was the same this time, we winged it. 

We only sightsee-ed once, and it was at this place called Batu Cave. We climbed up a heck load of stairs and were rewarded with some pretty cool views. Was it worth it? I'm not sure. You can take a look at the photos above and below and decide for me.

I was told that this looked cinematic

How bout that, ma boi Jordy looking fine

Just me giving a million dollar smile

They had some real elegant structures, so I gotta get an elegant photo

Ah, sweet ol' Dom

The bulk of our trip though, was visiting different shopping malls and really just eating. That's where most of our money went. All on food and on taking Grab. But it was also food that caused our downfall, though that's a story for another day. Of course I did spend a significant amount of my money on gifts for my parents, so there's that. But I shouldn't be boring you with details like this. It's the food that we want to see, ain't it?

Mango Crepe aka my winning shot for the whole trip

Featuring Dom's hand and food

Like my title already suggests, this trip was all about the food. Of course, I didn't do something as dumb as to take photos of our every meal. I just took the ones that were aesthetically pleasing, or would make great photos.

As every photographer on social media likes to think these days, "bokeh equals pro". I shot at f/2 - f/2.8 for most of these photos on my 35mm, trying to capture as much bokeh as I can. I can't do flat lay, so I do bokeh instead. Besides, I like trying to capture more detail up close too. 

Fun fact: the above photo of the mango crepe was by chance. I didn't even remember myself taking a photo at neutral level like that. I applied my "cafe brown tones" preset on it which is usually meant for natural light and wooden surfaces in a cafe settings. It was tweaked from the Mango Street's Portrait preset, believe it or not. I found the overall tones to be apt for cafe settings so I changed things accordingly so it made the food still look good. But as I was saying, that photo was originally pretty bright but the preset changed the entire bokeh background dark, enhancing the focus on the mango dripping down that ice cream. Ooh, so bokehlicious. 

Pancakes galore

Pretending to cut it

"Is someone boomerang-ing this?!"

This is it, chocolate heaven

Are we dead yet?

No? Good, round 4 here we go

We had some pretty good chocolate filled desserts at Dip & Dip, which was recommended to us by our friends. No regrets is all I have to say. Simply because they were all so good. And that's coming from someone who is picky with his desserts. So if you're in KL, give it a try. I promise you won't regret it. Though we might have to exercise really hard just to burn off all that sugar. 

But if you asked me which meal was the most satisfying one? It's got to be our lunch on the last day. We decided to have Chinese food at a restaurant and shared some dishes. Braised pork, salted egg yolk chicken, a plate of vegetables, dumpling, etc. All of us agreed that they served the best food throughout our trip. Nothing could top that. I wish I had better photos to show for it, but this was the best I could do. I was starving too badly to even hold my camera straight. But not to worry, they are all bokehlicious. 

Also, one more thing about food worth mentioning is that one of our breakfasts was settled by our man Harvest. He'd decided that he wanted to cook for us at least once, and so we let him. And boy are we glad we did, cause he was a really good cook. Note to self to always bring someone who can cook to travel overseas with. In Korea we had Jordan, this time, we let Harvest take charge. Though Jordan still insisted on cooking his own eggs. It was really funny to watch.

The man in action

I would also like to add that we gamed away every night and every opportunity we had. We really are addicts. But that's not the point is it?

Point is we had our fun, tons of it. 

Cheers.

Bonus story for anyone still reading:

And our last meal at the airport? It had four out of five of us waking up to an intense episode of food poisoning. I said that it was meant to be another story but nah, I'd just share it here. We ate at this Kopitiam looking place in the KL airport, and excluding Jordan, the rest of us ordered from the Western stall. It was all good. Then we got home and had ourselves a good sleep. When we woke up? Diarrhoea and puking. It was mad. I ran a fever, had all my energy drained out of my body and could barely move. Even the doctor was shocked at how white my face had become. It truly was an experience and a lesson learnt. Only eat at restaurants when in Malaysia, and not hawkers and Kopitiams. Well we'd be damn.

The Craving

I find myself asking myself this question a lot. For whom do I shoot for? The answer is pretty pathetic, for I shoot for my Instagram feed. Sure, tons of people are shooting for their Instagram. But take Instagram out of the equation and what am I shooting for? There is a void that must be filled, but there is nothing to fill it.

As do most humans these days, I crave for recognition as well. Instagram is one of the simplest ways to satisfy that cravings. It's a sickening revelation, really. But this is how low we've dropped as humans. Let's just move on with life as we acknowledge that. As a result of me chasing that little recognition Instagram has to offer, it has caused me quite the big headache. In fact, it's impaired my life. When you're constantly thinking about what to post, what hashtags to use, what timing to post, and all that, you know you've went ahead and dived into the rabbit hole. I'm not a planner like Shirley is, y'know. She plans nine posts in one go to have it look good. I just post one at a time, keeping it messy. Even that in itself gives me a headache. 

In order to keep that "engagement" going, I make it a point to post everyday. I was I'm Kuala Lumpur recently with some friends, and I found myself posting a photo while we were out doing stuffs. Like really? I had to question myself, what even was I doing? The whole point of the trip was to enjoy myself and let loose, not worry about which photos to post everyday. 

This chase of course led to an addiction to the app. How I constantly open the app every few minutes, or when I have nothing better to do. I open it so many times a day, that it was eating up so much of my data. Especially after I post a photo. I'll open twice as often to check the amount of "likes" I'm getting. In fact, I'm always so close to bursting my data every month because of this damn app. It never used to be like this. I started to wonder, whatever happened to the times when I used less than a GB of data every month.

And then there's Insta Stories. At first, it was just a story every now and then. Now, I find myself storying this and that. It's as serious an addiction as my postings. One friend pointed out to me how much I storied. And just today, I stopped myself from storying as I was telling Shirley a story idea.

I digress. No not really. They are all sub-points of a main point. What's the main point? That Instagram is slowly poisoning my life. I'm not even indulging in my old hobbies like I used to. What happened to reading? To watching dramas? To playing games? Now I'm just stuck on my phone opening and reopening Instagram like some idiot.

And that has got to come to a stop. It's time for me to stop being a slut for recognition, to stop being a slave to this app. It was painful, but I deleted the app (AGAIN). I have no idea how many times I've deleted and re-installed the app, but bear with me. I can barely bear with myself either. The last time I deleted, I wanted to shoot based on inspirations from outside. But I was still trying to shoot for my feed. So this time, what if I didn't want to shoot for my feed. What would I be shooting for? There won't be a place for me to show my photos, and if that's the case, what's the point of my photos? I've asked myself that a lot as I was scrolling through my phone gallery, looking at my KL photos. 

My life crumbled. And that's how the story ends. No not really. But I haven't had it figured out. If not for Instagram, then what purpose do my photos serve? For memories, for keepsake? If that's the case, I can jolly well delete all my portrait shoots. They do not fulfil that. For my portfolio? Perhaps.

I actually envy how most of the Instagrammers out there can just keep shooting, keep creating, without ever actually questioning themselves, the way I do. Is it my psychology background that causes me to do this? Because it's made me so used to questioning things that I've started to question myself so often? I truly have no idea. And I think that's how I've lived my life anyway. Not knowing is sometimes better than knowing.

Now that I've deleted the app, what am I gonna do? I ordered a few Kinfolks, so I guess it's time to do some reading. I'm currently reading "To all the boys I've loved before" and I love it. It's been a really long time since I read a storybook, so it feels refreshing. My 3DS is probably waiting for me to pick it up and play, so I might get to it. Currently watching a Korean drama "Wok of Love" as well, since it's been a year that I've found a drama I like.

Would I be shooting? Yes most definitely. I have to shoot to find my answers. That has always been the case for me. Would I shoot for memories, or for my portfolio? Maybe both, maybe neither. Maybe without Instagram, there is no point in me shooting anymore. We never know now, would we? I do know I won't be contacting any models to shoot. Truth be told, I don't even know what to shoot. I've shot portraits for so long that I don't really know how to shoot other genres. Maybe chase some sunsets haha. It's been a while since I've done that. Well, whatever. 

Would I re-install Instagram? I feel like it's gonna be a yes eventually. But I wanna try and see how long I can stay off the platform. It won't be forever, for I've made many friends on the platform. 

So till next time,

Cheers

What you need

There are just days when you don't feel like getting up. When your body weighs too much. When you're feeling under the weather. And as much as responsibility compels you to get back on your feet and to drag yourself to work, you just can't. You don't even have to check your temperature to know that you're sick. Your entire body is telling you so. It's not what you want, but what you need. It's a sign that our bodies have worked for too hard, and that it is time for a break. 

So go ahead, laze in that bed for a couple more hours to replenish your rest. Stay at home and do nothing but watch your favourite tv shows. Eat a little healthier, and drink lots of water. Most importantly, do not think about work or anything that will stress you out. 

///

My second time getting food poisoning in such a short period of time sigh. First time being end of May. And it's one of the worst feelings ever. It's a lot worse this time, because I actually had a fever and I puked real bad. Lost all appetite and was so weak I could barely stand for more than five minutes. I'm not even exaggerating. The doctor was so shocked when he saw me for the consultation because my face was as pale as a sheet. I'm glad I'm feeling better, but I really gotta be more careful when it comes to food from now on. 

Cafe Hopped (no not really)

Located somewhere down the alley of a certain road in Johor Bahru, there lies a cafe called Bev C Cafe. And it's a cafe that's tricky to find because it's hidden on the second floor. I walked around the block so many times, not knowing that it was upstairs. If you were expecting a review, don't. Let me stop you here right now. The pasta I got was filled with chili oil, and I died from the spiciness. I can't even remember the drink I got, perhaps it was a mocha. But it wasn't fantastic, there are much better ones out there. 

I just wanted to take the chance to show you the food photos that I took while I was there. They can be improved, without a doubt. But I'm just a newbie at this, so go easy on me peeps. The photos were actually edited with Mango Street's Cinematic Lifestyle preset, slightly adjusted to suit the photos more. 

I'm not really good at food photography, but it definitely is one genre of photography that I wish to get better at. You see, I've got this dream of taking photos for Kinfolk one day. Or write for them even. Whichever I can get. I'm not there yet, but I'll hone my craft till I finally make it there. 

Figuring it out

Some of you may know this, but I haven't actually done any proper shoots in a long while. Even if I've been inspired by this and that, I haven't gotten down to shooting any proper portraits. The reason is simple, to be honest. And it's that portraits have gotten too comfortable, too repetitive for me. All I'm doing is changing the background and the model, the way I shoot remains the same. The way I pose my models remain the same. The way I compose each shot remains the same. Maybe it's because I don't have crazy ideas for each and every shoot, but shooting portraits had gotten slightly boring for me. I attend workshops, but it only makes things worse.

And I'd grown sick of keeping a portraits only feed on Instagram. Because when I'd started this shit, I never had any intentions to stick to one genre of photography. I was largely influenced by VSCO, and its community. And by that, I mean I shot random things - snapshots if you might. Taking a photograph of a nice landscape, a cinematic street shot, a documentation of a haircut, a touristy portrait, and sometimes, a random flower. You get the point. At some point, I started to only focus on portraits, and neglected everything else. Maybe that's why I got so creatively frustrated. I was holding myself back by only focusing on one genre. I wasn't being myself anymore. That was never what photography was to me. Photography was a way of documenting my life. And portraits? They don't do that, unless I'm taking photos of the people who mean something to me.

I got lost along the way of my photographic journey. Sidetracked, misled by this and that. It was a long detour, but I guess I'm back. And if you'd been keeping track of this blog, you'd see how many detours I took, how I've been trying to figure myself out on this blog. It's mad, my mind is everywhere, it's messy.

I like taking photos of anything and everything. I'm not afraid to say it, but I'm a VSCO kind of guy. So give me some time as I figure out the different kind of edits needed for the different kind of photos I'll be taking. 

I don't think I'll be doing any portrait shoots in a while, instead, I'll be focusing on documenting instead. Coffee shots, who I hung out with, a random scenery, nice aesthetics. I don't know what I'll be shooting, and I think that's what I like. 

To Feel a Little Magic

Have you ever had that feeling where you listened to music and that piece of music just somehow magically transported you elsewhere? From the streets of New York to the mountains of New Zealand. Maybe you've never been to these places before, but the songs just brings you there. And you're able to imagine it vividly for some reason.

I get that kind of feelings whenever I'm listening to American Authors. There's just something about their songs that brings me around America. I'm not even kidding. Since the first time I've heard their music, it never fails to bring me on an imaginary road trip. It's the kind of music that makes me feel alive. And I think that that's pretty beautiful. 

It's one of the reasons why I keep going back to their songs. To feel a little magic, a little life. 

Leaping into yet another phase in life

About two years ago, during this period, I remember receiving my enlistment letter. I was expecting it, but it was still a dread when I finally saw the letter. I didn't know what to expect from national service, it was scary. "It's just two years." Everyone would tell me, but it really isn't. If you're physically and mentally strong, then maybe, that two years would be a breeze. But if you're like the majority of young teenage boys, then entering national service is potentially one heck of a stressful event. 

My first two months was hell. During my Basic Military Training (BMT), everything was so physically draining, my body just couldn't handle it. Eventually I got injured, and was put on status for one month out of the two.

Well, it did get better afterwards. I was posted to be a driver, and it was there that I made some amazing friends. Zero physical training, so that was perfect for me. Driving though, was a pain in its own way. It took me seven tries before I finally passed the driving test. I was so emotional I actually called my mum in the midst of the heavy rain to tell her I finally passed.

Army isn't so bad, I would think to myself after driving course had ended. It was tiring, sure, but I had good company when we had to drive for outfields. We even got to go New Zealand as part of an exercise, and out of all the countries we could go to, New Zealand was without a doubt the best one. It wasn't perfect of course, the unit we supported was one of the worst this country had to offer. They showed no appreciation for support units like us drivers, and the technicians. Looking at you, artillery. Of course, there were good peeps who gave us the recognition we deserved. My man, Shiny Batto, Alientummy, and Mr. CSM Joshua. 

But of course, life never goes the way you want it to. We had a change in Node Sergeant Major, and that was when everything went to shit. All it takes is one guy to ruin a tradition that has been built for years. I mean, you know you're screwed if your own superior doesn't appreciate the work you do. And you know you're screwed ten times as bad if everyone in the office doesn't like this guy.

Off topic, as always. But yeah, before I even know it, my two years is almost up. By August 3rd, I'll be a free man once again. It's been one hell of a ride, there were tons of ups and downs. We were used and abused by this organization so much that we simply gave up and didn't want to be nice people anymore. They simply didn't deserve our help.

So what's next? To be honest, I forgot to apply for university. But that's because I thought the application would be AFTER the open house and not before it. What even is the point of having the open house after the application date. But it was a good thing that that happened, so I won't complain. See, I actually have no clue on what I wish to study. Psychology seems to be logical choice, since I did that in poly. But my interest for it is only 50%. I would have chosen English, but what would I do after I graduate? A teacher? Nope, not my thing. So I had time to think about all of it through, and there was the career fair I recently attended. And apparently, being a journalist suits me. Something I'd never considered before, so that's what I'm considering now. 

I'm obviously going to be working part time after I ORD, and I'll definitely have more time for shooting. So that's what I'll be doing. I haven't done proper portraits in a while, so I got to do that. I want to shoot some sunrises and sunsets too, and landscapes. Just so I can play with more edits. 

Most importantly, I will finally have more sleep. Hopefully. And I will never have to deal with stupid shit thrown at me by the army. 

ORD LO! I mean, Cheers.

Korea 2k17 (Seoul / Busan)

It's been almost six months since I embarked on my Korea trip with my close buddies, Jordan and Yi Hong, in the middle of winter in December. We had no proper winter clothing, just heat tech from Uniqlo, and a lot of layers. I wrapped myself in a whopping six layers, looking like a burrito, just to keep myself warm. The Korea trip was most certainly a life changing, and eye opening one. We'd decided on going free and easy for this one, so we had to book everything ourselves and boy was it tough. It was a lot more hassle than we thought. Itinerary wise, we only had a few rough locations in mind, otherwise it was all planned the night before in our BnB.

It was one hell of a crazy trip. We walked all day, slept at 3am, woke at 12 noon, and walked again. We spent all of our money, withdrew more, and spent again. We hiked in Busan, complained about our aching legs, had our breaths taken away by the view, complained again, and repeated the routine everyday. We bought food in marts and Jordan would make our breakfast every morning, and we'd snack on honey butter products past 1am. 

We struggled to find food everyday, because Yi Hong and myself couldn't handle too much spiciness. We struggled to find our ways because the two of them couldn't understand Korean and all I knew was basic Korean. I did my best to converse with the locals when purchasing stuffs, enquiring stuffs, and whatnot. 

We lived like locals. We stayed in apartments (BnB) instead of hotels, we visited marts, we took the trains and buses. We got lost, we laughed, we took a whole lot of photos. We shivered as the temperature dropped daily, and we found solace in shops embedded with heaters. We got excited like little kids as snow started to fall on us. We ignored our leaking noses and hurting ears, we fully enjoyed the moments. 

Korea, you were beautiful. We had one heck of a good time. The company was amazing, I couldn't have asked for better partners in crime for this trip. I'm looking forward to my next overseas trip. Hopefully Australia, or New Zealand.

Cheers.

Can you blame me? Their payphone looks so cinematic

The moment the snow fell

City boi

The crazy view that made it all worth

We risked our lives for these shots

Cliche

What do you do at a beach in winter? Take some photos

Your boi just chilling with two layers coz it got hot

Tri-X 400 // Shooting On Film Again

Well, it's been like what, two years since I've shot on film? I actually can't remember when was the last time I shot on film, but I do remember buying a roll of Tri-X 400 to play with maybe eight months back?

It's actually a black and white film, which I've always wanted to try. Colours are distracting after all, so why not just shoot in black and white. It saves me the trouble of worrying about anything related to colours. But with it comes new worries, the blacks and the whites. I have to make sure my model doesn't drown in the background, or if the shadows will cover too much details, etc.

I brought my Nikon FM2 coupled with the 105mm f/2.5 to this film instameet organised by Lutfi. It was now or never, I had to finish this roll of film. Of course, I bought this film originally meant for street photography, but now that I'm doing portraits, I decided to give portraits on film a go instead. So for this shoot, we've got Shirley with us. 

Living up to my name of #seandontleaveme given by her

Shooting the shooter because that's a thing

It's a running joke that she's my 5 year old daughter

And I wanted that office lady with an inner child vibe

I am no film expert, so I can't tell you all the detailed stuffs. It's just therapeutic for me to shoot film. I'm stuck on one ISO only, and it's full manual, so I'm constantly changing settings accordingly to the light available. I can't shoot indoors mostly because it's ISO 400 that I'm stuck at so that did kinda suck for me. Manual focusing isn't the easiest thing to do, especially with that hot sun shining on us and I didn't want Shirley to get a heat stroke from waiting too long. Plus, I only have 36 shots on me. I can't afford to waste any shot, because of how expensive film is these days. So every shot has got to count. Some things have to be sacrificed of course, and this case, I took my time framing every shot and focusing. I'd just buy her a drink after. I'm kidding, the model's health is always top priority. 

With digital, I can easily shoot 300-400 photos per shoot, and most of it is crap. So I'm extra careful with my 36 shots. It most certainly feels good to take my time with each shot. I'd scout the background, thinking how best to go about using it before I get Shirley to pose. I try not to experiment too much like I do usually, and am merely focusing on getting a good shot. I ain't got no extra films. So I hope you love these shots as much as I do. They really did turn out much better than I thought. 

Apparently, making my models squat has become my signature

Absolutely love this one

This one was one of those failed shots, but still #seandontleaveme

Loving that harsh light

Help cause the chair was burning

Now it's #shirleydontleaveme

Kianhao after this shot: "don't tell her anything, let her keep walking"

And you know what? Some times, film teaches you a lesson that you can apply in digital photography. There's actually no need to spam that shutter button when shooting digital. I know, most famous photographers do that and they encourage it. And that certainly is the case for paid work especially, because you don't want the perfect frame to be ruined by a blink, or a twisted foot that you didn't notice. But if you're shooting casually, why not take the time to frame a shot, consider the elements that is being added to or subtracted from your shot. Get it right in one shot. It's much more therapeutic this way, and you have less culling to do afterwards.

Another lesson I got out of it (partially from watching Kodachrome) was that you should use film on photos that you want to keep. I wasted my first two rolls of film on mostly street photography and very bad photos. Most of which I wouldn't keep to be honest. That shouldn't be the case, especially with the scarcity of film in this era. If you ask me, I won't be using my film for planned shoots anymore. I can come up with amazing concepts, but that does not mean I want them kept as hardcopies. Why? Because the people inside don't mean anything to me.

What I'm saying is, I'd rather use film on the people who matter. Family and close friends. I always wondered as a kid why my dad shot rolls after rolls of film of the family, we barely had space to keep that many albums. But now, I guess I do understand where he was coming from. It's these photos that you will take out and flip through, show your kids, your wife / husband, and reminisce. 

Can you believe I don't remember taking this

Shirley bending over for that amazing light

Posing with scooters is a must

Need to look badass while we're at it

My favourite shot from the whole roll. Perfect bokeh.

I just like going closer for one more shot, every time.

Huge thanks to Shirley for modelling for me again. Go follow her on Instagram at @iamshirleyho!