June – Tukang Rantek Claudius

Tabi basa & greetings everyone! Today’s post is about Gawai celebration at Kpg Pichin. Before COVID-19 hits us, it was used to be celebrated in a much grander scale, with much better attendance. Our church, St Trinitas Kpg Pichin (Holy Trinity Church), was never enough to accommodate the ever-growing congregations. We never fail to spot people standing outside the church when it comes to Gawai mass every year.

For 2022 edition, the celebration was still solemn, but people starts to flock to church for annual Gawai mass. The celebrant was Brother Christian Levi, aka Tuki’, one of my childhood friend. It is good to see someone you grew up with, had his fair share of lost identity, finally had a good grip of life and is en route to achieve greatness in the field of his choice, i.e. to be a priest.

His voice is full of masculine energy, very unlike who he once was. Then we took photos outside the church, along with few friends that I have met. Including the Marly & Meeva. These two ladies took picture with me when I was still using my armsling. Looking at this photo, I kind of miss my M9-P + Summilux 50mm combo. Perhaps I will get my M in the future. As of now, I am using SL system, which is much better in terms of usability. But Leica M is an icon.

After the church mass was ended, I rushed back home to edit the pictures of 31st May 2022, after the “Biradang” event at Kpg Sejijag Plaman, Serian, where I followed my sister & her husband. You can read it here: “Biradang” at Kpg Sejijag.

Usually people will take it slow at the early days of 1st June because most of them would have stayed up on the 31st May to wait for midnight and light up the sky. Nowadays, people seems to be able to acquire fireworks easily. Long time ago, only the rich and YBs can afford it.

While waiting for the Dato’ Sri Richard Riot’s open house nearby at 4pm, I visited my grandma’s house, and my aunty’s house and did few photoshoots in between.

When it’s time for Open House, I brought my camera there and capture the moments. There was a random Chinese photographer who was eyeing my camera. Only when I sat down to take a rest, he approached me and have a look at my camera. He was seen using a Fujifilm X-T3 and lens 16-55 f/2.8, which is a good all-rounder lens considering it has an equivalent 24-70mm focal length in full frame.

There was a few official photographer and videographers on duty, but I didn’t recognise any of them. They seems to be too focused with their task at hand, as they should. They don’t interact much with the peoples around. On the other hand, I will talk a lot especially to the event-goers because I will definitely need to write something about it in my blog. Blogging is good, much better than Facebook post as I have 100% creative control. Those who likes to read my stories are most welcomed to subscribe to my blog.

Once the official event was done, I head back home, had a rest and returned back at around 10pm. I didn’t bring my Leica back that time, but I was lucky to be able to play with MacLister’s Leica M Typ 240. I skipped this one and went straight for M10.

There was too much fun at the hall that I didn’t regret didn’t bring my camera as it would be distracting. Once in a while, you need to wind down and enjoy, as well as having fun.

My uncle posed with M-240. Not mine though.

While waiting for my Uncle, I dropped by at my relative’s house and took the pics of my relative and their friends. I kind of miss this moments – of being so young again. Now, my friends are almost all married, settled down and won’t stay up later than 10pm. Forget about my female classmates from Piching, they are glued to their family.

That’s all about the post for 1st June. It is quite an eventful day for me, but the best is yet to come. As I write this blog, I realised that I like to share my journey in this manner. Though photography is not my full time career, it is an outlet for me to channel my creative side and to keep my technical career balanced.

p.s. I am aware that different people has a different approach, so it is totally up to the individual. If you happy with what you see here and wish to hire me, feel free to contact me via WhatsApp +60148677585.

You can also follow me at Twitter, claudiusweson.

That’s all for now. Until next time!

Regards,
“Tukang Rantek” Claudius
Follow me on Twitter: claudiusweson

…and it’s blackout. But the show must go on.

It’s still blackout, but I increased the brightness in post.

Tabi basa & greetings everyone! During Gawai, there is a lot of activities that peoples do. Some chose to have fun, some chose to visit their friends / relatives houses in a tradition called “bijarah” / “ngabang”. Some chose to drink & dance to Gawai songs. For us, we chose to do our very own photoshoot on the second day of Gawai.

For this photoshoot, I’ve collaborated with Cikgu Lelian of Kpg Bugu Mawang, Serian to do a photoshoot at her village, joined by other girls from BM.

I took this opportunity to “bijarah” to my aunty’s house there too before the shoot. It is our tradition. As usual, alcoholic drinks will be served. In case you’re not interested to drink, you can always decline politely because it is considered rude to decline something without any proper reasons. That is a common sense.

For our photoshoot, we just do it at the “bari” (paddy house) area, with the view overlooking the mountainous areas behind the village. Such is the signature look of Kpg Bugu Mawang. It is located at highlands. Other Bidayuh villages are generally located at lower areas. That is why the tapwater at Bugu is much colder compared to other Bidayuh areas.

Bi-Bugu, compared to other Bidayuh villages that I have visited are a happy bunch. Even though it is not Gawai, you can always hear someone playing music somewhere, as if the entertainment never stops at Bugu. But I’ll save that topic for another blog post.

The photoshoot went on smoothly. I always like to do a photoshoot with people who has no “diva” attitude. Though it is a side job, but it is important for us to do things that we like with the person that appreciates our work, especially art & things like photography.

For me, speed is important. In my artwork, I try to do it as much as possible in camera, and do some minor editing later on using CaptureOne. But I am aware that different people has a different approach, so it is totally up to the individual. If you happy with what you see here and wish to hire me, feel free to contact me via WhatsApp +60148677585.

You can also follow me at Twitter, claudiusweson.

That’s all for now. I hope you like the pictures here.

Regards,
“Tukang Rantek” Claudius
Follow me on Twitter: claudiusweson