Journey of The Muse-i: Photography and My Cameras

Photography has always been my hobby. When I was younger, I have this vision; I wanted to capture all memorable moments in life and things that I see let it be good or bad; I want to share these moments with everyone. When I get old, I can look back these photos and see my life as a movie drama. I really do love the idea. For that reason I took lots and lots of photos. I bought my very first camera in my second year of university when I was in the UK. It was still in the 'film' era. It was quite challenging then because I didn't know how well photos were taken until I print it out. Print out films was itself another challenge. As student I was of course poor. I would have to budget my expenses every month so that I have some money to print out films. Tough life then but I enjoyed the kind of challenges. Finally, in 1998 I managed to buy myself my very first Canon SLR camera.

First reached London Oct 1996

24th Birthday, 1999

24th Birthday with friends, 1999

CNY, 1999

Snow in March 1999

Shakespeers Hometown, April 1999

Winsor Castle, April 1999

Wimbledon 1999

Worked as cleaner, summer 1999

Paintballing, May 1999

Trip to the south UK, June 1999

Trip to south UK, June 1999 - Forgot what beach is this

Trip to south UK, June 1999

Trip to south UK, June 1999 - Isle of Wyeth

Trip to south UK, June 1999 - Stonehenge

Trip to south UK, June 1999

Peak District, Summer 1999

Packed, ready for shipment, summer 1999

Mum in Paris, Oct 1999

Paris, Oct 1999

Paris, Oct 1999 - in white sweater is my beloved Big Sis. Isn't she pretty?

Mardi Gras in US, Feb 2001

With the Louvier family, US 2001

Working on homework in US, 2001

At work site, US, 2001

KL, forgot what year

Genting 'Cloud Sea', 2004

As time goes by, I graduated, came back to Malaysia and got stuck with crazy busy work. Luckily the passion for photography remained. I took lots of good and meaningful photos. Along the way, however, I think I lost my way a little bit. I steadily and slowly grew lazier to take photos. One of the reasons was the cost for print out. Another reason was in Elken, we always took photos, too many photos that I was kinda fed up a bit. Then my Canon SLR started to fail after so many years of 'hardwork'. In additioin, digital camera era started to get more popular, felt kinda outdated. Didn't buy any digital camera though, I was always skeptical about the quality of digital camera compared to film camera. With my Canon SLR not working particularly well, and without new camera, there was a span of one or two years that I didn't really take photos unless I was travelling. I guess another reason I didn't take photo was because I was lost, about my life, what I wanted to do, my dream and most importantly, who am I. This part I will write about it later.

Come back to photography, as my analogue Canon SLR failed, I finally took my very first step towards digital camera world. It was in July 2005 that I got myself the very first digital camera. Introduced by my friend, I bought a Kodak limited edition high quality compact camera, I forgot the model now. It really took excellent high quality photos. I really liked it. With it, I took, to my very own standard, lots of good and satisfied photos.

Ulu Yam Waterfall, 2009

Genting Archery, 2009

Parents in Angkor Wat, 2007

Beijing, 2007

Genting, 2009 New Year - Kodak

Genting, New Year 2009 - Kodak

Last year, my good friend Kodak finally bid farewell after serving for 4 years. Guess it's old age. I decided I want to get a good camera this time, but digital SLR camera is just well over budget. Needed a camera quite desperately, I bought a cheap compact camera, Nikon Coolpix L20, about RM500.00 only. It's ok, quality is better than the price though. Under the sun / outdoor photos would come out well. The problem with this camera is the indoor photos. This is just not a camera for indoor photography. Heart breaks when I look at the indoor photos.

Brunei Shell Champion Platform, April 2010

However, I still haven't got enough budget for a good digital SLR camera. I told myself, I will get one when we go for family trip with my beloved sister, who at that time recovered from her battle with stage 4 NPC cancer. The travelling plan however was postponed several times, from March, then June, then Sept, then would never happen again. It became one of my biggest regrets in life. I didn't get a good camera to take many memorable photos of my family and my sister.

After my sister's funeral, I came back to KL in early December. One day when I woke up, I went to Low Yat plaza to check out Canon DSLR camera I have been wanted to get, Canon 50D. It's now discontinued and Canon has launched now a new model, Canon 60D. It was good enough for me. Then I asked about Canon 7D. Canon 7D has always been out of the league, but I asked anyway, just for the sake of asking. To my surprise, this particular shop actually gives good price. For Canon 7D with lens 18-135mm kit, I only needed to top up about RM1K for the same Canon 60D kit. Well, it's worth it, isn't it? I told myself. In the future I would save myself hussle for upgrades. At the end, I bursted my budget, my wallet, my bank account to get this one, Canon 7D. Bank account till date is still negative. But what the heck, don't really care. End of the month will get my salary. I really don't want to wait another second. I made sure I bought it before my big sis's 3 7. I made sure I don't miss the opportunity to take photos during her 3 7.

I learned that in life, we shouldn't wait. If we waited, opportunity passes by us and we will never get the second chance. I got myself an excellent camera, but some how I wasn't feeling happy at all, at that moment. I wish I could turn back time.

Couple of days later, I went with a friend to San Niang Old Folks Home in Triang. I took many photos, left and right, up and down, haha. I captured lots of moments in my life. At the moment I don't really care about the quality of photos, I just take them. hahaha. As Canon 7D is more for professional use, right now the best function that I use best is... the autofocus. hahaha. But of course I started to use other functions as well. I think I start to take good photos again. Take it easy, I don't put myself under lots of pressures. Autofocus or not, just chill and enjoy the process. I just take life step by step right now :-D. But still, I think I've taken few good photos to date. hehehe. Slowly, I'm happy again. Life goes on regardless of what happened. The earth will continue to spin. One thing will not change, big sis will always be in our memories and hearts. She would want us to live happily and to the fullest just like she did, right? :-)