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Chasing sunsets – do you feel lucky to have caught the beauty of it despite the briefness, or do you feel a twinge of pity that it won’t last?

Amazingly, as the questions bubble up to the surface, when one has made the decision to reach for inner peace, suddenly whatever the outcome is does not matter anymore.

The opening phrase above was something I wrote 25 days ago, at a crossroads with so many questions, at the cusp of the new year, so painful to decide. But I was reminded, if you don’t have your heart open – it can receive nothing.

Since then, the most unbelievable turn of events… still surreal, every single day, where it can bring us remains to be seen, but most of all, I found the courage from his faith in us to walk down that path regardless what it may bring us to, and that truly is one of the most liberating feeling ever.

The cycle of beginnings & endings continue to amaze me, as very different happenings to 2 of the closest people to me proved that regardless of whether the decisions were right or otherwise, it has been made & what comes with it will be dealt with in any way they choose to. And that, taking chances, is all that matters.

Life, you continue to astound me :)

This time however, is more of a lifelong-dream-come-true kinda post :P A while back, the random Flickrite that I am was uploading some shots (which I’ve not been doing much lately, to be honest :( ) when I chanced across the Lonely Planet group that I’m in. The challenge was ‘Spirals’ & I just shrugged and added a tag to one of my all-time fave shots.

It’s a shot of the Simonetti Staircase, at the very end of your visit to Vatican Museum you will have to walk down it to exit the epic complex where you’ve walked close to 2 hours (and perhaps queued more than that!) to see all the wonderful art, sculpture & of course, the piece de la resistance that is Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel. More often or not, it is not noticed it at all.

So, one fine morning I had an email waiting for me when I stirred from slumber. I had to re-read it a few times to make sure I wasn’t dreaming still!

It was an email from Mark, the man in the Lonely Planet office in Melbourne.

“Congratulations on winning the Spiral challenge.
Please let me know which book you’d like as your prize.
Also, is it possible for us to feature your photo on an LP blog? The online editorial team have started showing off the winners here.”

I nearly fell off my chair. LONELY PLANET???? MY PHOTO??? ON THEIR BLOG???? YOU NEED NOT EVEN ASK!!!!

As an avid traveller & photographer, there is nothing more holy grail than that (to me anyway) – Lonely Planet needs no introduction, I own a few of their books, checks their forums religiously each time before I leave for a country that I’ve never been to before, was in fact still smarting over the fact that I could not qualify as one of their full-time image contributors (it’s a HUGE commitment)…. and now, having my photo published on their blog?

I really needed to pinch myself. And made sure I didn’t squeal too loudly. And to stop doing the chicken dance.

:P

Anyway, here is the shot :)

Thanks to all the lovely comments, encouragements & support. It comes as the highest compliment to have your work appreciated by so many, and I am always thankful for that & will continue to strive to share more light & words from the globetrotting journeys!

PS* If you are wondering which copy of Lonely Planet book I ended up choosing as my prize, it was a really tough choice between ‘South America on a Shoestring’ & ‘Trans-Siberian Railway’ <— freakin’ cool, right?

But being the Asian that I am, I went for the ambitious South America on a Shoestring bumper copy! More (continental?) destination insprirations ahead ;)

The challenge was to capture the architecture while the people using its spaces. A building is nothing unless its layout & design are benefiting its user. The idea behind the project was to have seamless integration of spaces for the students & allowing them to study/work/play/learn all under the same space and I must say, it is amazing to see these happen & giving soul to the architectural spaces! This is also the first University campus that integrates many elements that a campus should have (common in the West, rare in the East), setting the bar for other educational institutions in the region to follow suit.

Now that they have bagged the PAM (Malaysia Architectural Association) Gold Award 2011, here are some shots to share.

Heartiest congratulations to NWKA for winning the PAM Gold Award & thank you for the opportunity to capture the heart & soul of this landmark project :)

Change is good, that’s what everyone says. I fully agree, but as with all unknown there will always be anxiety associated with the possibility of failure. After distilling all of the factors down, it always comes back to one four letter word which is most misunderstood, in my point of view.

Fear.

Initially, this fear seized me & caused a case of paralysis analysis. Constant churning of thinking, evaluating, considering, contemplating, wavering, steeling, then wavering again… the wave of exhaustion eventually crashes into a physical & mental timeout.

Just as a puzzle piece clicking into place, I realised the same cognitive blessing is also a curse as it hindered me to actually take the goddamn leap & actually start putting plans into action.

I realised I need to find this fear, to make it a source of motivation, a sense of urgency pushing for drastic steps to be taken, to help break out of the mould we find ourselves stuck in so often. I am human too, with my fair shares of setbacks & disappointments peppered along this long journey we call life. But if we don’t try, if we don’t take these steps – how will we ever know if things will work out or otherwise?

For the first time in my life, I find myself at the point of loss… an extremely unfamiliar territory to say the least, because for all my life, I’ve had every single thing in my grasp, in control, within a plan to ensure I get there. But what I now know is, there are certain steps in life that has to be taken in order to break out of the box we’ve put ourselves in & told ourselves is our safe haven.

There is no such thing as a safe haven. Life is what you make out of it, yes there will be disappointments & heartaches despite the mountain of effort being put in… but just as everything in life has a cycle, what goes down must come up.

The question is, do you want to see it come around? If you do, you will find the strength to stay strong, to hang in there to see if happen when the single time you’ve tried in the countless repeats breakthrough.

For the first time in my life, I actually can’t say affirmatively these words: I know exactly what I want to do.

But I know what I need to do, in order to get to where I need to be while on the journey of finding what I want – which is happiness. A deep sense of meaning in what I do, while bringing happiness to those who crosses path with me.

The fundraiser for Japan is testament to me that if you believe in it, with some concrete action & positivity, it can happen. Doesn’t matter there are doubters & haters along the way, we can’t please everyone & that’s a fact – but the difference we can make, it is something that can never be discounted.

For sincerity, hope & faith is a force that can be felt even without words. It is also what makes us human.

So from the bottom of my heart, I thank all those who have helped in one way or another, as well as showed their support in its many forms. You have all reminded me that in this bleak times, there will be hope and we will all live to see another day as long as we hold true to ourselves & have faith.

I will be strong and go on this journey, however long it will take, because I have the most indestructible force of all – love from those around me to keep me going.

Light & love to all, xxx

UPDATE: One of my fave photographers, David duChemin has taken a bad fall while on workshop in Italy. His post on Fear, written merely 2 days before this post was published, resonated incredibly with me when I read it much later. It also occured to me that this struggle I’m going through, isn’t something that just surfaced overnight but have been fought with for a while now (as evident from posts like this, this & this)

But with courage & some faith, I’m sure we’d all pull through :)

UPDATE:

WE RAISED RM12,700 FROM THE SALE OF THE CANVASSES & THE FUNDS HAVE BEEN PASSED TO RED CROSS MALAYSIA, TO BE TRANSFERRED TO RED CROSS JAPAN. THANKS ALL FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

UPDATE: More info on event on Facebook event page!

Friends were joking that I seem to be the luckiest person recently: returning from Egypt 2 weeks before the revolution riots begun, and 2 weeks before the massive 9.0 earthquake struck north-eastern Japan, bringing along a shocking tsunami that devastated much of the area & putting the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant at risk of meltdowns.

For a person that has an outlook of the-glass-is-half-full, I’m thankful that I was not in those countries when the incidents struck. But the harder part for me is to see these countries whom I have grown to love during my time there, as many of its people that shared so much with us & showing us their amazing hospitality became friends, and now for them to be part of the calamity.

On 11 March, when friends started messaging me about my good timing & whether my friends are safe in Japan, only then I realised something huge has happened. One check of the news quickly made my heart sank, and after a round of calls to Japan I was relieved that everyone was safe as they were in Tokyo & mainly, Kansai.

However, when I saw the footages of the tsunami later that evening, only then it truly sank in how devastating it was. I just sat there crying, for the destruction was so, so swift that I kept thinking it could’ve happened to my friends, both Japanese & non-Japanese, whom I’ve grew to love during my time there.

But Japan has shown us how resilient she is, as news reports over the next week shown how the people are helping each other through this difficult time, with a commonly overheard phrase of ‘we are all in this together, so let’s help each other through it’.

That, sums up Japan for me – strong, resilient & UNITED.

So, instead of focusing on devastation & sadness, I’ve decided to celebrate this amazing country & to help its people who are in dire need of our help, by selling my Japanese images printed on canvas (courtesy of My Canvas Prints, which is very gracious & is donating all profit of sales from this fundraiser) to raise funds, where all profit will be donated to International Foundation of Red Crescent (IFRC) – the organization which is working with the Japanese government in search, rescue & humanitarian efforts.

At this time where prayers are appreciated but real action to make a difference is way more urgently required to help them through this difficult time, we sincerely hope that you will join us in celebrating Japan’s beauty & giving hope back to their people by owning pieces of art which focuses on positivity whilst helping those who have lost EVERYTHING to rebuild their lives again.

So, come by & have a chat with us on the day, or if you’d like to put in your order, kindly contact us:

Japan: Celebrating Hope & Beauty – Fundraiser to help Japanese people of 11 March 2011 Earthquake & Tsunami

Date & Time: 2 April 2011 (Saturday), 3 – 7pm

Venue: My Canvas Prints Gallery (Lot F105A, 1st Floor, Centrepoint, Lebuh Bandar Utama, Bandar Utama, 47800 Petaling Jaya, Selangor) – just go up the escalator outside Starbucks & you’ll see MCP)

What’s up on the day: Thank you & slideshow of images by Huey Yoong, sales & custom order of images + canvas sizes. Orders are also available from now through to May if you can’t make the event, please drop by the gallery to see image collection & canvas sizes available. The images available to be printed is up on our Facebook event page, as well as here where you can select the images & place your order. MCP ship internationally too, so the folks overseas can help too!

ALL profit from sales will be donated to IFRC, which will go directly into efforts in search, rescue & humanitarian use in Japan.

Any enquiries, please contact me at huey[dot]yoong[at]gmail[dot]com or leave a comment here.

A huge thanks to My Canvas Prints for its generous support of use of gallery, donation of all profit from this fundraiser & swift concordance so this could happen in such a short time!

Also a big thanks to my good friend, Su which have shared her Japan images from her 7 years stay there as well for this event :)

Looking forward to all your generosity in giving HOPE back to our Japanese friends!

For me, my love for people & their stories is the fuel for my burning passion towards travel & people photography.

Same reason why I love meeting all sorts of people daily & worldwide through my work & travels.

Same reason why I graduated with a Psychology AND Genetics degree.

Because I love to know what makes them tick. What kind of experience they’ve had. What makes them feel the way they do.

So visiting the World Press Photo expo today in our backyard (so glad they chose KL as one of their worldwide tour stops!) reminded me why I love photography, because I too, love telling stories of people through my images. Editorial & journalistic photography has to be one of the most precarious occupation in the world, often involving being in the heart of (conflict) action & countless men and women have sacrificed their lives/mobility while being on the job of capturing the moment of truth, just so that the rest of the world can see it unbiased, unedited, un-Photoshopped, unmodified.

Needless to say, there were millions of entries which the jury had to sift through, shortlist, voted & debated on before the eventual awards for the respective categories were given. It definitely is a mammoth task but hearing what the jury leader said about the winning image (Photo of the Year 2009) summed it all up:

‘There were intense debate about the image – some said it was unremarkable, some said it’s very strong. The image might have small subjects, but we all can feel that they are part of something a lot larger & more significant. This is precisely the reaction we wanted to invoke in people – to see media photos in a different way.’

One of the images that really resonated with me was this shot. It is absolutely stunning for the whole context of the situation + the subject’s fear to be conveyed in a single shot. What is even more awe-inspiring is imagine the position of the photographer when he shot the frame – the kind of hostile chaotic situation which could turn life threatening any second.

That in itself, like many other images you can see in the gallery says it all about the level of dedication these photographers have to their craft, their passion, their duty to give these stories a voice so the world can hear them.

Don’t forget, each & everyone of us have stories to tell. Those without voices to do so, they have us light catchers to lend them one :)

As a Malaysian, I’ve been wanting to visit Thaipusam for years now. This amazing festival had long attracted much attention due to the grandeurness of it all & the controversy of devotees having their bodies pierced with spears & hooks, while carrying kavadis up the 272 steps of Batu Caves.

So, with less than 3 hours of sleep but armed with lots of enthusiasm (thanks Jason & Robin for indulging me!), we checked out this festival that celebrates the most basic of humanity – good over evil. Even though it was a little underwhelming for me (expected more crowds, chaos, traffic nightmare etc) but was blessed to not have those plagued us, it was still amazing to witness people’s devotion to Lord Murugan & the extent they will go to to give thanks (when they have wishes to be granted/had their wishes came true/when they wish to atone for past sins).

With multiple piercings & carrying tremendous weight of a kavadi to walk 15km (this is before going up the 272 steps too, mind you), I had utmost admiration to what faith can do. A belief so strong in your Lord that you do not feel physical pain or exhaustion to complete your mission of giving thanks & being grateful for your blessings… with family & friends chanting ‘vel, vel’ (‘vel’ is the lance which vanquishes evil), it was an amazing experience of humanity being together to beat good over evil.

So here are some images from the day & remember, do good and not evil :)

]]> http://hueyyoong.com/blog/images/thaipusam-good-over-evil/feed/ 0 http://hueyyoong.com/blog/images/whats-your-comfort-zone/ http://hueyyoong.com/blog/images/whats-your-comfort-zone/#comments Sun, 09 Jan 2011 18:11:03 +0000 Huey http://hueyyoong.com/blog/?p=63 Continue reading →]]> THEN GET THE HELL OUTTA THERE.

We often stay in our comfort zone, in our sweet spots, not wanting to try something new and/or difficult to push the envelope further. In a creative industry like ours, that is the ultimate doom in many ways – forgetting how to see things differently means the demise of creativity.

I’m sure there’s always a sweet spot for (D)SLR photographers when it comes to focal lengths. For myself, as a travel photographer, it is undeniable that I can’t live without Nikkor’s ingenius 18-200mm VR wide-telezoom lens. It covers a great range, allowing me to shoot landscapes all the way to zooming in to capture private moments of people otherwise would not possible being too close. Ever since I got it in Aug 2007, it has travelled with me to more than a dozen countries & is just amazing.

But as a portrait photographer, I also have a sweet spot for prime lenses. Having started out with the 50mm 1.8, I soon realised my sweet spot is 30mm… and my glass of choice is the Sigma 30mm 1.4. It’s a perfect lens for people shots, food shots & lotsa bokeh lights (all of the above does combine a fair bit together…)

But of course, the challenge of having a prime lens is its fixed focal length, meaning any ‘zoom’ you’d get will be those from your legs :) It really does force you to see things in a different way because of the restrictions.

So from time to time, I will force myself to just stick to one single lens and see how I cope in getting out of the box it’s stuck me in. I must admit, being able to do so is actually a luxury for most photographers, especially those in commercial lines. But its importance of forcing us out of our comfort zone is never more paramount because of that.

Anyway, one fine afternoon, Sue & I went photowalking & because of the weather, we detoured to Batu Caves (I was there exactly a week before, with the 18-200VR when my buddy Dan visited from Melbourne) and this time around I decided to give myself a challenge & shoot only with the 30mm instead.

Having just returned from Taiwan a week ago, spent 100% time shooting with the tele-zoom, the prime was excruciating initially to use at BC. But soon, I begun to see why I love photography & the challenges it posed again…

So the below are all shot with the 18-200mm VR…

And now for the challenge – 30mm f/1.4 at Batu Caves. Groans. Then love <3

So what will you do today to get out of the comfort zone? It might yield some pleasant surprises on how you see :)

Goodbyes are never easy.

Even if it is the one who signifies all the new beginnings that will be coming.

The end is the beginning is the end.