35mm – Claudius Weson Photography

Simbuk’s Ninety-first Birthday

Dear family and friends,

How is your week? I hope you are doing well. The weather seems to be a bit crazy recently, with raining season coming, causing traffic jam here and there. By the way, I have a question for you. Have you ever imagine what you will do when you are older? Have you ever thought of who you want to be when you are older?

For me, it is simple. I want to be able to be able to do what I love most when I am older, which is to capture the moments with my loved ones, regardless of my age. I know some of my friend like Marvin who wants to be able to lift even when he is older, unlimited by age. People like Sifu Yong wants to rock his R1 all along the corner when he is older.

However, my simbuk (grandmother in Bidayuh Siburan) is happily enjoying her life with her grandchildren, which we celebrate last Monday. It was a simple celebration, with less than half of her descendants coming, but the joyful season can be felt.

Birthday girl and great grandchilren choirs are ready.

As usual, prayer is led by my uncle who is a catechist, followed by the usual cake-cutting and photo-session with her grandchildren. It is not easy to gather the kids around, but it is normal when you are managing them. You will get used to it.

Photo with some of the great grand children.

Simbuk, just like any other normal Bidayuh woman, lives a simple life. She lives stress-free, and just focus on the essentials of life. She has done her hustle, and now her children is taking care of her. Compared to modern lifestyle, where we sacrifice a lot, especially times with our loved ones, to buy a lot of stuff to impress the people that doesn’t matter in our life. No wonder the pressure level sky-rockets in the recent years.

Just like any other community in Sarawak, for Bidayuh people, family institution is core of society. You can’t be an island, because there will be a time when you are falling down, and needs help.

Acquaintance, colleagues and friends come and gone, but your family (and true friend) stays. Therefore, cherish them in your life. May your life is be blessed like Simbuk’s.

Your Tukang Rantek,
Claudius Weson

Gear used: Leica M Monochrom and Summilux 35 FLE.

Note: Claudius Weson is a tukang rantek (photographer) based in Miri, mainly doing portraiture (indoor / studio / outdoor photoshoot), weddings and event photography.

Copyright Notice

All of the images on this site are protected by copyright laws and are the exclusive property of Claudius Weson Photography. Images may not be copied, reproduced, manipulated, used or altered in any way without written permission. The use of any photography as the basis of another photographic concept or illustration is a violation of copyright.

Hip Hop Night

7 months ago

Tabi basa and greetings family and friends,

Weekend has come, and it is a time to rest once again after a long week of working. Friday night is a night where many would spend their time with their family, and friends. It is a night where people gather together and reconnect. Some would take this opportunity to hustle, to work out, or to work hard to build a brand out of their name.

For Sarawak Asset staff, 1st Nov night is the time for them to enjoy and have fun after a year of toiling and giving their best to the organisation. It is also the opportunity for the top managements to mix around with the working level and check how they are doing so far as well to get to know their family, which is a rare opportunity for them to meet the top managements.

Nevertheless, for many, it is also a golden chance to mix around as such dinner can only come by once every year. Last year’s theme was Rock & Roll. This year’s theme was Hip Hop, a theme voted by many of the staff. I believe it is relatively easy to find and to prepare. Just find a cap, a hoodie, a suitable sweat pants, and a comfortable shoe, and voila, you meet the theme.

For this purpose, I just use a simple t-shirt and a jeans since I intend to be behind the lens anyway. Therefore, for me, comfort is my main priority. I do enjoy capturing the moments that you can see here in this blog post. As explained earlier, my blog post is my main form of communication as it is the one that I have the most control at. There is no point for me to upload a hard work of mine in a social media platform that may not be guaranteed its longevity in the future. In this case, my blog will be sustained as long as I desired it to be.

The crowd was entertained by Tony Ngu, a Beatboxer, who is also a beatbox trainer himself; including DJ Matt Abdullah from Sabah, who entertained the crowd with his selection of music.

Going back to hip hop business, as usual, it is not complete for us to do a costume dinner without any best dress winner. For the first category, the solo category for men and women, there are three peoples were chosen by the committees. For men, Terry the Man, Tanna the Boroi and Baldave (from Bronx). They go up to the stage and tried their best. Tanna really went all out to the point I don’t know him anymore, with that moves of him on stage. Terry also gets better with styling as he gets older. But Baldave the Bronx Baddie won the crowd.

For women category, there are three candidates; Fariza the Freezer, Mei Peng and Cindy. Cindy also dressed so smartly, and I think it is impressive. Cindy might have won the crowd, but Fariza won the hearts of the little ones with her excellent showmanship.

For family category, we have Thong’s family, Werry’s family (geng Rantai) and Adli’s family (the Hip Hop Hurray team). The Geng Rantai won an undisputed victory as many voted for them. Thong’s makeover is awesome, and this time he is the Black guy. Last year he was the God of Rock.

After the fancy dress performances, it is time for the lady boss to go up to the stage and present the winner their prizes. Congratulations to the winners! As soon as the final grand prize was given away, the crowd quickly disappears.

From my conversation with the peoples on the floor, I do know that this would be the last Sarawak Asset dinner for peoples like Colin Lester Koh as he moves into a different location, as well as Fariza, who will be leaving the organisation for a better opportunities outside, joining the red team. Therefore, this Hip Hop dinner acts like her farewell party.

As usual, farewell is not really a farewell, but just an opportunity for us to say hello once again. With this, I end my post for now and I hope you enjoy the images here.

Note: All of the images here were captured using Leica M10-P and Summilux 35 FLE lens. I think this combo is awesome for all purpose photography, particularly for reportage. No wonder Craig Semetko loves it.

Have a great weekend ahead with family and friends. For those working, work safe and stay safe!

Your Tukang Rantek,
Claudius Weson

Copyright Notice
All of the images on this site are protected by copyright laws and are the exclusive property of Claudius Weson Photography. Images may not be copied, reproduced, manipulated, used or altered in any way without written permission. The use of any photography as the basis of another photographic concept or illustration is a violation of copyright.

Note: Claudius Weson is a freelance tukang rantek (photographer) based in Miri, mainly doing portraiture (indoor / studio / outdoor photoshoot), weddings and event photography.

Copyright Notice
All of the images on this site are protected by copyright laws and are the exclusive property of Claudius Weson Photography. Images may not be copied, reproduced, manipulated, used or altered in any way without written permission. The use of any photography as the basis of another photographic concept or illustration is a violation of copyright.

Note: Claudius Weson is a freelance tukang rantek (photographer) based in Miri, mainly doing portraiture (indoor / studio / outdoor photoshoot), weddings and event photography.

Ponsikou kio Musti

7 months ago

Tabi basa & greetings friend and family,

Hopefully this week’s beginning has been an effective one for you. As time goes by, I began to embrace solace in silence. It gave me time to quietened down the external noise, and enables me to listen to my inner voice in the stillness. I encourage everyone to embrace the silence, especially the content-creators community, be it photographer, videographer or even musicians. Also, it is important to take time-off as and when required to help with the physical and mental health management. Otherwise, you would face burnout. That is bad. Don’t be part of the statistics.

As for this current post, I want to write about my latest assignment. This time I was tasked to capture the farewell of one of our leaders, Musti Juin, a Sabahan guy. He is an Operations Installation Manager (OIM), and is in charge of a platform. He is like the boss of the platform, offshore. For those who watched the movie Deepwater Horizon, I am sure you have an idea of what an OIM is. Personally, I always likened an OIM to a Hokage, if you watched Naruto series, simply because he is the most knowledgeable and competent person on-board. Technically, he has to because he need to manage a lot of stuff. Basically, he is the most important person onboard, and has to take care of every aspect of the platform, from HSSE, production, maintenance and even welfare.

The event was a straightforward one. However, the most important thing is not the food, but the gathering of person that worked together to achieve common goal. In this case, his team gathered once more to celebrate his contributions all this while before he move to the next assignment. During

For every hello, there is good bye. But behind every goodbye, is a chance to say hello once again. Talking about workplace, no matter who we are, we have one single goal, which is to bring bread back to the family.

In the modern context, is to feed the family. If we have a good person to work with, the journey itself is more enjoyable. To have a good leader on board, it is indeed a blessing, especially if the leader has years of experiences under his belt, and able to lead the team effectively without relying on his authority to get the job done.

To be able to observe such leader working is a good experience, especially for the younger generations, and the future leaders. You can actually learn a lot from what is unsaid versus what is said. In Ronan Keatings word, you said it best when you say nothing at all. This is one of the skills that is hard to come by, cannot be found in books because soft skills are the things that we are not able to learn through courses, but through deliberate exposure and of course, mentoring by the more senior leader.

For me, and to most of the peoples here, this is definitely not a goodbye, but a “see you again” kind of event. To see the camaraderie demonstrated by the boys tells a lot about how close this team are.

Hence, hasta la vista, and ponsikou (thank you in Kadazan-Dusun), Musti!

Your Tukang Rantek,
Claudius Weson

Copyright Notice
All of the images on this site are protected by copyright laws and are the exclusive property of Claudius Weson Photography. Images may not be copied, reproduced, manipulated, used or altered in any way without written permission. The use of any photography as the basis of another photographic concept or illustration is a violation of copyright.

In The Beginning

Farewell Speeches

Photo Session

Mejeng Time

Trainee Bartenders

Sayonara

Copyright Notice
All of the images on this site are protected by copyright laws and are the exclusive property of Claudius Weson Photography. Images may not be copied, reproduced, manipulated, used or altered in any way without written permission. The use of any photography as the basis of another photographic concept or illustration is a violation of copyright.

Tags archives: 35mm

In The Beginning

Farewell Speeches

Photo Session

Mejeng Time

Trainee Bartenders

Sayonara