Quick Updates

So swamped with stuff, searching for space in my schedule to scribble here, so sorry for the scarcity of substance.

Anyways.

Quick updates:

Work at school has been piling up. I am starting to get to remember names of students better, especially those who pay attention to lessons, ask questions and submit assignments. I am also entrusted with other responsibilities that are not related to teaching math, such as basketball, speech coach and band manager. Might also be asked to take photos of school events, which I would gladly do, despite my poor photography skills.

I was involved in a traffic collision (car accident) a little more than a week ago. The collision was entirely my fault. I lapsed into sleep while driving, and woke up half a second before hopelessly slamming the brakes and banging into the back of a taxicab. Front of the car was badly damaged and had to be repaired, which'll take about a month. The first week I was without a car, I walked to and from school every morning and evening, which took half an hour of brisk walking each way. Coupled with fasting, the walking made me lose weight by about 4kg in 5 days.

My brother Ayid finished memorizing the Qur'an recently so my family organized a little kenduri to celebrate. Most of the inviteds were close family and neighbors. Due to the amount of delicious food available, I was tempted and overate. The 4kg loss was rendered useless in one night.

This week my sister let me borrow her car for a week. I have not been walking to and from school since I can now drive instead. Now I am able to go buy food at Ramadhaan bazaars before going home, which does not help health-wise. Therefore, I might be going to the gym this week to compensate the unhealthy lifestyle.

I need to attend to the pile of papers on my desk now, so here is where I end, for now.

How have you been for the past few weeks?

-ihsankhairir-

I Just Need to Shoot Something!

I can't help it. I like to shoot. I like shooting anything and everything: children, furry little mammals, blossoming flowers, and even exotic cuisine.

Image by Nationaal Archief via Flickr

No, not that kind of shooting.

I mean using a camera. Anyone who has read this post of mine, or have been reading my blog for some time, would attest to this.

For quite some time, I have been deprived of opportunities or even free time for me to delve further into my photographic explorations. The fact that I now work full-time means that I had to resort to shooting events/happenings to quench my thirst and alleviate my haven't-been-taking-pics-for-a-while withdrawals.

So far, the events/happenings are:

An Under-10 and Under-8 international football (soccer) tournament at Alice Smith School...

 

An Indonesian family's first visit to Kuala Lumpur and Singapore...

Mr. Chong's farewell dinner at TGI Fridays One Utama...

A Teacher's Day telematch and football (soccer) game...

My college housemate's engagement ceremony...

Paramount Championship Finals at Sri KDU...

The reception dinner of the wedding of two Wolverines: Mike and Poh Yi...

A student clearing tables at Fullhouse Cafe, Sunway Giza to pay for everyone's lunch...

Winner's Nite performances in Sri KDU Secondary School...

KDU College Invitational Basketball tournament...

among others.

But these are not the kinds of photos I miss taking.

Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy taking photos like these... where to capture photos I can and at most times have to be quick, careless and random in my shooting. But in all truthfulness, it doesn't do much in my exploring the finer details of the art of photography.

Shooting these kinds of photos don't require me to prepare specialized lighting setup, direct the subject on how to pose, use long exposure settings, set-up a rear-curtain sync flash, reverse the attachment of the lens onto the camera to achieve magnification and shallow DOF, etc etc. Plus, the randomness and suddenness of taking pictures as the event goes along prohibits me from utilizing props like reflectors, gobos, and off-camera lighting, unless I have an assistant or two who can run around with reflectors and umbrellas at hand, ready to bow to my every whim.

Every now and again, I will talk about the kinds of photos I miss taking.

And I shall reserve that for another post. As for now, I shall be doing more event photography as they keep coming along my way.

What can I do. I just need to shoot something!

-ihsankhairir-

...

p/s: The next few up and coming events would be a field trip to a pewter factory, a school running event and carnival, and a Malay wedding reception.


p/p/s: Expect a post about the kinds of pictures I miss taking coming up next. Soon. When I have the time.


p/p/p/s: I am not good at event photography, which is why there's not much aesthetic qualities nor evidence of skill to be found in most of my event photos.