Monthly archives: November 2017

MotivationHow to Stay Motivated When No One Is Watching

 

Greetings everyone! Today, to welcome the last month of the year, I would like to write about motivation.

What is motivation?

Motivation is a reason for behaving in a particular way. In whatever we do, there is a motive. Even when you said that you have no motive to do something, the root might come from your complacency. So that is your motive. I observed that many of my Facebook and Instagram friends were involved in a life-improvement activities lately. Veralyn the Wonder Woman Sabahan Mother is active with Shaklee, and continuously promoting Shaklee to her friends via Facebook and Instagram. My sister Claudia and Olivia is active with Hai-O, selling Min Kaffe and other products; Marvin with his inspirational activities, the preparation for Spartan race as well as his consistent juice of motivational words at his Instagram, and once in a while, a selfie (jangan marah bro :p). My other half is rather secretive, so I better not spill her beans – it only between the two of us. 😉

Those activities that they have done makes me think, what drives them? What motivates them? Once in a while, their post is not even being entertained, but so they keep on moving forward. Perhaps, they were being rational, that “likes” doesn’t pay the bills. Indeed it doesn’t pay the bill, because that is just a promotional activities. Some people are happy being Insta-famous, that they have so much followers, hundreds of thousands but they earn no money from it. In this case, what force of nature drives them?

Therefore I sat down in my usual favourite silence to contemplate about all of this thing. It seems like what they did was out of a single motivation and they have found their true purpose. In Simon Sinek’s word, they have found their WHY. For them, for these peoples, their WHY may vary. Some people are motivated by wealth and like the feeling of having a lot of money. I think these group of people were raised up in a low state of living, and people around him/her look high upon the people that has a lot of money. Therefore, they make it their life-long covenant to be rich. But just like what Jim Carrey said, let this people gain a lot of money, so that these peoples realised that by having a lot of money, you are not solving a problem, but rather the beginning of more problems.

Some people have their motivation right, they have their family as their motivation, or as their WHY. If you put family as your WHY, then you will place their importance above everything else. For example, you will go for a lower-paying job against a higher-paying job if the former is located near your family, versus the latter which is located somewhere far away from your family. This does not come by itself, but from our DNA, which tells us to be closer to our family so that in the event of difficulties, they will be able to come to our aide.

How To Stay Motivated Then?

Having said the motivation for these peoples, once you have identified your motivation, be it your family or you are simply passionate to do the things that you are doing now, then the next question is, how to sustain it? How to stay motivated even if no one is watching or cheering for you? In 2017, I find it very easy to find yourself at the wrong spot-light. One wrong mistake, you’ll find yourself viral at Facebook, you will constantly being bombarded that you have no choice but to shut yourself off from the public. If you are Miri and you did something awful to the community, you will end-up at Miri Community and will be famous for the wrong reason. I think this stems from our inner-voice that reacts to warn other people from the impending danger, and in this case, someone that might cause harm.

It is not surprising that with new years coming, everyone will be busy posting their new year’s goal. But I suggest you do it differently, which is in this case, just focus on the light at the end of the tunnel. For you, these are two simple steps that you can take every single day without fail:

  1. Make Your Goals Clear

  2. Do Positive Self-Talk

Repeat Step 1 & 2.

That’s it. You can actually stop reading here because the next few sentences is about the elaboration of point 1 & 2.

The Day I Aspire to Be Good in Vocals and Guitar

Make Your Goals Clear

Why? So that we know where we are heading. Just imagine that you are boarding an aircraft, but you do not know where it is heading. Will you board it? Any sane person will say no. It is self-explanatory. No one would want to board an aircraft with an unclear destination. So is the cells of your body. If your brain (the management team) cannot decide where you will go next, your body (the working level) will be confused, and will have no motivation. The opposite happens if the goal is clear. Everyone that has the same destination in mind will board the airplane, let’s say it is heading to Kuching. Everyone can focus their effort to make it possible. So is your body. Actually, our body is tougher than what we expect. It is just the brain that needs to be convinced. Particularly today, where everything becomes quicker, and we are so used to be instantly gratified. I say, no. Do not forsake the bigger glory ahead for a small minute instant gratification.

For example, if you have a dream to build your own empire of photography and be influential, why would you want to waste your resources on funding your superbike that has nothing to do with your dream? Just saying.

Do Positive Self-Talk

Most importantly, you are being true to yourself.

This is what we often failed to do. Being raised in a normal Bidayuh family, self-talk is often unheard of. We are constantly shaped by what we heard from our friends and neighbours. I am so lucky I am a stubborn one. When I set my eyes on a target, I will focus all of my energy and time on it. Who we are in five years’ time depends on who we are mingling with now, the book we read and the things we are exposing ourselves to. If you are mingling with negative-self-talker bunch, but your goal says otherwise, have courage to walk-away. I am not saying you should abandon your friends, you still can stay friends, but unconsciously, it will affect you. Find someone who can empower you, inside and outside. Too many people are stuck with a toxic relationship without them knowing it, like an abusive other-half. Well, you shouldn’t call them other-half if all they do is to make you feel useless and worthless. Unless they change, have courage to step out and re-evaluate your decisions. Every single time you are awake, and when you look at the mirror, give yourself some dose of motivation that is due. There is not much you can do about your physical imperfections, but that is what makes you unique. If everyone appears similar, then there is no uniqueness. Correct? So, do your own positive self talk. Also, don’t be too hung-up with the number games. Number games, e.g. follower counts at Facebook and Instagram can kill your motivation and self-confidence. I would say, just focus on your own self-improvement.

Accept the fact that you can’t please everyone, and out of 100, only less than 10 people will actually see your post. For me, by having this expectation, I am less devastated and now I am more focus on getting near to my goals. Thank you for reading until finish. God bless.

 

Regards,
Claudius

Motivation Talks. How To Find Happiness Through Photography

Greetings everyone! Today there is a topic that is running through my head, and I felt like I need to write it out before I even call it a day as for today. The topic in discussion today is “happiness”. As a human, it is normal for us to seek happiness in everything we do. If not, then there is no point for us to find it. As for my other-half Belinda, she is happy when she can dance, as she is a dancer. For my friend, Marvin (marvininspire.com), he is happy when he can sweat and doing his workout while preparing for the next Spartan race at Johor Bahru on 9th December 2017. Some people is happy when when they can sing, like my friend Mark Julex (MJ), who is a talented singer and I still think he took the wrong line of business, not engineering, but music industry. I hope he is reading this part.

Me and my colleagues at work.

Anyway, back to my topic, one can’t help to wonder, in what way photography makes someone happy? Have you ever seen someone unhappy when they took pictures? Maybe yes, when that person was capturing a group photo, but he was not in the group. In that instance, with the correct placement of camera, or a selfie – invented by Mr Bean back in the 90s, he can include himself in the photo. Of course it is always better to use a tripod to take a group photo.

Capturing the Decisive Moment

For me, how photography makes me happy is very simple. I am a man of mission, and every single time I am wielding my camera, I have an aim, which is to capture a moment unrepeated, or decisive moment. When I managed to capture this decisive moment, I am happy. When I am not, I will not be unhappy either, but it is rather a challenge to look for more opportunities.

The Lutong Beatles

Immortalising Memories

During my assignment, I always look forward to capture the best part of an event. For example, in a wedding, the best part is to capture the moment when Priest announced that the groom may kiss the bride; in a birthday photography assignment, is when the birthday person blows the candle. These are the things that is not meant to be repeated. Years of honing my street photography skills helped me to prepare for this kind of event, but there are still a lot of room for improvement. However, like life, it is not about the destination, but the journey itself. For me, joy is also when I see others in joy. I love to capture the happiness in every single photographs I create. The joy is then doubled when I receive heart-warming feedbacks from my clients. For me, that is happiness.

 

Smiling Hulk Hogan

Exercise!

For me, photography is also an opportunity for me to exercise. What is a better thing to do than to capture the event or moment while taking the time to exercise your muscle and arms? When I am doing my assignment, particularly event photography, I will always walk around. If you saw me sitting at the guest’s table, that means I am not hired. That is all. Otherwise, as part of my code of conduct, I am always on standby mode, since I am still on duty, so it is very important for me to give my all until the event is over. I do not believe in partiality, such as giving my 50% when I am being paid less. For me, it is either you hire me or not. That’s it. Plain and simple.

Running Man

 

BONUS:
It is also surprising when people recognises your name but not your face. Well, most of the time, exposure to my works happen only via social media, and photos get shared around. So this is not uncommon.

So to summarise, for me, happiness in photography came from capturing the decisive moments, immortalising memories and exercise. If you have any comments, you may leave it below. Have a good day ahead!

 

Regards,
Claudius

A Short StoryA Man, An Island and His Phobia

A boat stranded due to low-tide.

Disclaimer: The event and characters you read in this short story is fictional. Any resemblance to a real incident, to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

 

Once upon a time in the 18th century, a young man was living on an island so big, so hollistic that he doesn’t want to leave no matter what. Every time his caring neighbours told him to go to mainland, he said that he already have everything that he need on the island, so there is no reason for him to leave. As time goes by, the young man became and adult, and like any other peoples of the island, he get married with a local lady and was blessed with two kids – a boy and a girl. His wife is a wise young lady, and she is aware of her husband’s stubbornness and the concern from the locals about his attitude of never wanting to leave the island to find better opportunities outside. No matter how hard she persuades him, she still cannot make him to go to the island. After doing her own research, she found out that the main reason why he doesn’t want to leave the island is because he had an accident at the sea, where his boat was capsized and he was drowning, but luckily he was saved by his late father. Ever since then, he refuses to go near to the sea. His late father told him to slowly get rid of his phobia, but he refuses, and instead, he claimed that he loves the island and never wanted to leave.

In order to make his husband face his fear, she and their kids tried to make a story. Their daughter, who is a talented young girl, and can act out anything, feigned to be in pain. His wise wife also collaborated with the island’s shaman so that she will tell the husband that the cure for their daughter’s sickness is available at the mainland. Hearing this, the husband was taken aback, since he had his fear. However, thinking that her daughter’s life is more important and no bigger than his fear, he embarked his journey to the mainland, which normally takes one full day of rowing since the island is not that far anyway.

His journey is not that easy at first, because it has been a long time since he was on the water. But after sometime, being a naturally-born seaman, he continues his journey. Dolphins, as if they were invited, swam and jumping around his boat to keep him accompany. There was once he saw a strange figure swimming in the water, like a huge fish, but he doesn’t care – for all he want is to go the mainland and get the medicine for his daughter. Once he arrived at the mainland, he was greeted by an unknown old man. Surprisingly, that old man knows him very well, as if he was his father. That old man then gave that guy a little box of something shining, which he said was entrusted to him by his late father. That shining item turns out to be a huge pearl, something bigger than a golf ball, and inside it was a strange inscription, believed to be a mantra of some sorts. Before he left also, that old man brought him a new model of boat, the one equipped with an engine, which is way ahead of its time. Once he passed to him the items, the old man bid farewell and then gone with the wind, as if all this while he was just a concentration of colourful, personified dust.

Without wasting any more time, he sped of to the island, and to his surprise, his daughter was all healed-up. Feeling uneasy, he approached his wife and asked her, what is happening here? His wife then explained lovingly that she doesn’t want him to be bounded by his fear anymore, and explained to him that no matter what happens, she still loves him despite his short-comings. Though initially he was a bit frustrated because he felt cheated, instead, he hugged his wife and his children tight. The shaman asked for the pearl from the man, and explained to him the person he met at the island is actually a manifestation of his father’s soul. His father wants to meet him before he leave this world for good, and after waiting for so many years, now his soul can finally be at peace. The boat itself was sent to his late father by a visitor from another era, since his father was a wise leader of the land, and with the boat, he is more agile than ever. However, care must be taken that the boat is in good condition, so it is summoned only during the emergency situation.

After the incident, the man and his family live in peace at the island, and once he is wise enough, he was equivocally elected to be the chief of the island.

Moral of the story:
1. Love is our resistance. A soul full of love can conquer any fear.
2. Family first, fear later.
3. Our parents are getting old. Make time to visit them more often before it is too late.

Of Best Camera Yet Poor Images... yes, you're not the only one wondering...

I acquired my first phone with camera, I literally shot almost everything that I think is interesting. Back in 2007, we are talking about VGA quality because I cannot afford to buy something better. When I finally have enough money, I upgraded into Sony-Ericsson W890i, which has significantly better camera and it has Walkman functionality at that time, something that I need. Over time, I had my first iPhone back in Apr 2012, then it made a world of differences. I take higher quality images of my loved ones, especially my family and of course, my lady.

The world is not enough if you have GAS.

Fast forward, as mentioned in my previous post, I acquired my first DSLR in 2014, and then upgraded into Leica in 2015. When I finally had Leica in my hand, my photography remains the same. It goes the other way round actually at first, because I need to get used to Leica.
That fact led me to think seriously about myself and my photography skill – what went wrong? So, listed down, here are the things think went wrong.
  1. Wrong Mindset – more expensive gears will improve my skills
  2. Wrong Attention Focus – spent time to review gears instead of creating good photographs
  3. Wrong Inspiration – Does not learn from the best of the trade

Wrong Mindset

Initially, I was one of the photographers who thought that if I buy more expensive gears, I will improve my photography skills. WRONG! Yes, your image quality is good, but that is because of the technicalities of the camera, not your image composition and the stories behind it. You can have a 50 megapixel camera, and yet your photo is not compelling. It has poor composition. Poor lighting and misplaced subjects. It is like someone who bought a Ferrari thinking he can instantly drive like Michael Schumacher, or someone who bought a Yamaha and immediately thought he can ride like the famous Valentino Rossi. Nope, it doesn’t work that way.

Repent now human, and denounce your GAS-sins, mortals!

Wrong Attention Focus

Focus on someone else, your judging and criticising ability will improve. Focus on the the winner, your will always be behind the winner. Focus on the camera gears, you will end up buying more unnecessary camera gear. This is what we call “Gear Acquisition Syndrome” (GAS). In photography, there is no need for you to keep up with the Jones. If they buy Nikon, it is still affordable. What if they buy the latest Leica M10 or even buy APO-Summicron 50? Or bought Hasselblad X1D? Then you are done for (unless you have tons of money). The more you review these camera gear, you will have a strong urge to buy what you initially do not need. It happens to me, but it doesn’t have to happen to you.

What are you looking at, Mister Cameraman?

Wrong Inspiration

You have the best car in the world, yet you do not know where to go or what number to beat in a single lap. You might have upgraded your MiniGP to the max, but are still happy when you do 1’20” at Miri track. That is quite slow man.
Same goes to photography – You might have the best camera, but you do not know who to aspire to be. You just continue to take snapshots but created no good photographs. I would say, don’t. You had your focus wrong, if you were to pursue a professional career in photography. This is not a problem if you take it as a hobby. if hobby, I have no issue. Do as you please and have fun.

I feel like shit now, I spend all of my money on camera gears. Now I have no money for breakfast. LOL

What Should You Do if You Are Beginner?

If I were to give advise to my younger self, I would do these few things:
  1. Take formal photography class, or better still, google it out if you have budget constraint. For me, if there is any Leica masterclass, I will join. It is fun to meet those of the same passion like you do.
  2. Buy a good beginner’s camera. I am influenced by Eric Kim, so I will buy the legendary Ricoh GR II. It cost around RM2700 brand new. Then once I have enough money and when I believe I have the skills, I will upgrade into Leica as early as I can.
  3. Follow the “sifus” or photography gurus. For example, since I consider myself initially as street photography, I followed Eric Kim. Eric Kim is an inspiration for street photography. For other photography, I usually just check out the photography branch at Instagram of Flickr or Facebook. For wedding photography, just type it as keyword and you can see a lot of images popping out from your laptop window.
  4. Always do self-reflection to ensure you are on the right track. Constantly align your goal with what you are doing now. Join a photography community around you, or you can contact me.

I think I am handsome, and I know it. But do everyone else agree with me?

Well, I think that is it for now. If you have any comments or feedback, just leave it down below.
Regards,
Claudius

Midnight RantChallenges in Photography Business...and way forward et cetera...

It has been eleven months since I have started my serious photography, officially with the birth of my Facebook page, Instagram and followed by my official website. During this period, I have witnessed a lot of items, emotional roller-coaster, as well as fighting off my gear acquisition syndrome (GAS) just like many other photographers. Although some might say I am too new in this business, but knowing my worth, I felt like now is a good time for me to summaries the challenges that I felt so far. The career-defining conversation that I had with Marvin sparked something within, and ever since then, it is history.

 

Photography is lot like playing piano. You don’t buy Steinway straightaway. You learn by using Casio plastic piano, then slowly upgrade to Roland, then finally Steinway.

 

Introduction: Transition from DSLR to Rangefinder

For the first time, I think one of the biggest challenge for me is to convince other people that I am currently doing a freelance photography. Before this, I was a hobbyist, I shoot from one event to another so that I can learn the trick of the trade. I still remember that in 2014, when I bought my first DSLR, Nikon D7100, I was quick to made my second purchase, which is Nikon 50mm f/1.4 AF-S. Using it in a DX-body makes it felt like a zoom lens, to my disappointment. Then, I brought my camera to various local events that I attended, like my friend’s Jimmy, Fiona and event company event such as PAMS event at Borneo Rainforest Resort just for fun and to hone my skill. Back then I was not expecting any payment since I know where I am. I was not serious about it back then either. Gear bug bit me, then I upgraded to Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED lens. It is a great lens, and it is one of the three lens, often called Nikon’s “Trinity”, including 14-24 & 70-200mm. However, there is something not right. I realized that with DSLR typically, if I were to go upgrade into better lenses, I will have to sacrifice portability. I have this friend by the name Lai Kar Wei, who always proudly say that his name rhymes with “Leica”. I had no idea what Leica was back then, so I just google it out and made my own research. To cut the story short, I contacted Erica of Leica Store Malaysia and secured my first Leica – silver version M9-P and a 50mm Summilux which I bought from ShaShinKi (Malaysia’s first and largest online camera shop, now with physical shop. Most of my camera gear is bought from ShaShinki. Good customer service, and if you buy Leica gears, Dr Koh, ShaShinKi’s founder, will e-mail you personally instead). I never used any Leica before that, but once I tried Leica, and examined its image quality which has no equal, especially in terms of look, I never looked back. I even lend my Nikon to my cousin for her assignments since I do not need it.

With my Leica, it poses its own challenge as well. It is a manual, save for the the aperture priority mode. Shutter speed, aperture and focus – it is all manual. However, less is more, and now I have full control of my image. I spend no time fiddling around the menus now, and just concentrate on composing and capturing the decisive moment.

My first Nikon (it’s D7100) and my first Leica, M9-P. Look at the size difference. Note that both cameras are full-frame and are using 50mm lens.

 

During this transition from hobbyist to freelancer, you should be very firm with your worth, and it should be backed by your works as well. You cannot claim that your work is professional if it is taken straight from the camera. It has to be post-processed to ensure it meets your own standard. There is a saying that beauty lies in the eye of the beholder, but if an image is ugly, no one wants to stash out their hard-earned cash to get it. that is why, you need to be good before people pays you.

Party Shooter Mindset/ Free-Shooter

Every now and then, when I am running my business, there will always be people asking me to take their photo for free. As much as I want to help them with their event, I have to be firm on my decision as well. I have spent so much time and energy to learn how to capture a good photograph, to attend the course to improve my skills, spending time joining events so that I will be exposed to better photographers. Whenever people say that they will promise you an exposure or they will put credits to your photography, that doesn’t really contribute to the bottom-line. You still need to earn cash to breakeven. Otherwise, you are running a failed business. My advise is, be firm with your stance, charge your clients as per the agreed business. Know your worth. If your potential client is not willing to fork out cash to pay you to pay you in full but still demand the best of your service, just politely tell them that you cannot accept that kind of offer and advise them to look for another photographer. Facebook or Instagram is a great tool to publicise your works, but the hard truth is, “likes” won’t pay your bill. Like it or not, if you wish to make a living from photography, you need to get yourself paid. Otherwise, you cannot sustain your photography and it will be come a liability (read: takes money away from your pocket).

Underestimation of Event

One thing that I always advise my potential client is to look at the importance of the event they are going to have. If that event is not very important, then they may consider using their own smartphone to capture the moments. However, if an event only happens once in their lifetime, like wedding or first birthday for your dear children, then you might consider hiring a specialised photographer to capture the events, but at a considerable price. Why I say like this is because I do not want to regret either you hire a relatively new photographer with low asking fee, but with the cringe-worthy image quality. In this case, it is better to spend extra cash to hire a good photographer. Wedding photography is always on demand, provided your image quality is astonishing, has its own “WOW” factor and tells a story without saying a word, just like Ronan Keating’s song. For wedding reception, it is always best to hire someone who knows exactly what will happens next. Every photographer should be briefed prior the event, and is alert to the Master of Ceremony’s announcement.

 

Way Forward

Let’s face the fact, it is not easy to make money from photography. You can open your shop for days, for months, and no one knocks on your door. That is if no one knows what you are doing. You can have the most sophisticated DSLR on Earth, best lens or the most expensive lens money can buy, but still you are out of job. What would you do then?

I would say, change your approach. Quoting Einstein, to repeat the same approach again and again and expecting different result is madness. It is time to reflect back what went wrong.

What would you do? I would find my way to make things happen. If your skill is not good enough, then learn from the best. Take photography classes or you can even find the specific subject that you want to learn from Youtube or any other sources, although I would suggest you to learn from the masters. I attended Fulvio Bugani’s masterclass once, and it is an eye-opening session. I also went to Mathias Heng’s class also, where he tought his approach to photography, particularly Leica street photography. Gears should not be an issue if you are already using a high-end gear. You can use beginner’s gear, but the end result would largely depend on your skills. Just like a warrior and a blunt sword. The sword will not add up to his skill, but it will make his life easier when he wants to carry out his task. Even John Wick can kill with a pencil, but it does take him some time for him to kill. Let’s say he is using his Beretta, it will take less than two shots for him to kill. Same goes to photography. Better tool will enable you to

To learn, better spend your money on gears appropriate to your skill set first. Then as you know more, you can add up your gear. Don’t go directly. You’ll regret it later. Better start with small, but consistent steps until you arrive. Trust me, you can do it. God bless.

Most importantly, find someone who will support you in ups and downs, because otherwise, your morale will plummet so fast and you’ll hit rock bottom.

Regards,
Claudius

p.s. check out my works at my Facebook Page, Claudius Weson Photography.

Keeping The Passion Alive...even if you are away from your main camera...

Dear friends,

I kept on hearing from my friends who are fellow photographers as well, that they sometimes found themselves struggling to find their reason to shoot photos, especially if they are working as freelancer photographer and projects or jobs are hard to come by nowadays, unless you have established your reputation as an accomplished photographer. This often demotivate them and the next thing we know is that their camera is collecting dust somewhere at the corner of the cabinet. What a sad fate.

“Luconia Sunset” – This photo is captured using iPhone 6 Plus. I love the sunset. Do you? 😀

 

I can relate to that since my full-time career is engineer, which requires me to travel from one place to another, depending on the occasion. Sometimes I go offshore too. On certain cases, I will not be able to bring my Leica camera due to work commitment, so I am often found with no camera. But that is if you discount your phone camera. So, I would like to share few tips that I have to keep the passion alive and keep the fire burning.

 

The Legendary Usa Panting

 

1. The best camera is the one you have with you

I am quoting Jay Maisel. Truly, the camera phone technology has developed faster and is closely approaching the quality of a standalone camera, and compared to the technology last 5 years, it has increased dramatically. Now, almost every smartphone makers want to build-in “depth effect” – which previously can only be created by using bigger aperture lenses. Leica also has collaborated with Huawei to create a smartphone with decent camera, like Huawei P8. But Apple and Samsung is also leading the pack. Apple with their iPhone X (pronounced Ten), has two separate lenses, one with telephoto lens and the other is lens with wider aperture for portrait. Samsung Galaxy S8 is also not bad. In summary, with all these brilliantly-engineered camera, you can always have mobile camera with you. I would foresee that the camera makers want to make their camera as simple yet intuitive like a smartphone to attract the masses, unless you are like me. Leica M’s timeless design has a special place in my eye.

When I am offshore, I do use my phone to capture the moments, as and when the opportunity appears. Despite the limitations, whenever the light is good, and the moment is right, I am able to capture almost all of the moments. The situations where I am unable to use my phone to capture the photo is when the light is too dim as the photo would be too “noisy”. Image noise is defined as variation of colour or brightness information in a photo, and you can always see this when you try to take photo in dim or dark places.

Nevertheless, smartphone is a good alternative if you don’t have any camera with you. But of course, if you have the choice, do use the proper camera to capture the moments, in RAW.

I have managed to capture quite a lot of interesting photo using my phone. I am using iPhone 6 Plus. Although iPhone X is an attractive replacement for this iPhone 6 Plus, but this phone has been serving me well for the past two years without fail. So, I will keep on using it. Enjoy the photos below.

Protector. Captured using iPhone 6 Plus.

Night Protector

Oma

2. Create Blog

As a new blogger, I have started to realise that the best thing to do when you have so much info to pass on or to be shared, is to type a blog. Even the best websites in the world has WordPress as its backbone (most of it). For me, I am compelled to write a blog because I love to type a lot of stuff at my Instagram post, but I am always frustrated with the word limit that it has. So, the other alternative for me is to write a blog, and this where we are now. Unless you write some controversial stuff, your blog will continue to live on as long as you pay the fee. There is no free lunch. If you are not paying for the product, you ARE the product.

3. Photography Community

Humans, like any other mammals in the world, are social-creature. Our passion towards something is amplified whenever we have met someone of the same interest and from that group, our fire lives on. It doesn’t matter whether you have the gear or not. In fact, the absence of your gear temporarily gives an opportunity for you to rekindle your passion towards photography. You will start to miss your gear, like how I miss my Leica camera and lens when I am away for duty.

I also have made a wonderful group of friends and I even met Leica legends like Fulvio Bugani, an amazing Italian Leica photographer, an M10 ambassador as well as Mathias Heng, a Singaporean Leica photographer. From Leica Store Malaysia, we have Daniel, Joyce, Shannel and Chi Loon. You can read the full article here, written by another friend of mine, Izwan Ismail of New Straits Time.

Joyce, Fulvio & Daniel, after his “A Personal Vision” Masterclass at KL.

From Kuching, I glad to know people like Edwin Lay (www.edwinlay.com) and Barkley Lim (https://www.facebook.com/barkley.lim), whom I met during Tribal Warrior Challenge at Kuching back in 19 August this year at Sarawak Stadium – a venue where I have tested my M9 to the max, by running around in the rain wielding a Noctilux equipped with an ND filter simply because I love bokeh. Perhaps I can work again with them in the future.

As for the community, one of the interesting that you can do is to create your own photohunt around the town. Maybe you can also organise an event where everyone is encouraged to capture the most interesting photo. Apart from being a tool, photography is actually a way of life. A photographer is like an observer in this fleeting time flowing through space. For me, when I am away offshore, and when I happen to be in the same crew with Vera, we will always go to helideck to enjoy the sunset, and often we found ourselves lost track of time talking about photography, life and everything else in between.

Enjoying the beauty of sunset of Luconia, featuring the “Sabahan Mother” – Veralyn Marcie.

With all of this being said, I hope you can find a way to ignite the fire within. You can always feedback or have a chat with me if you need a dose of encouragement.

“Inspiring others though my lens”

 

Regards,
Claudius