.in the name of art.

I was in my mischievous mood yesterday. Had a little extra energy that i have been keeping inside of me since the party at Laundry that I need to chanel out somewhere. That was when Eka, Jeremy and i have the wackiest of idea to do some crazy photoshoots! The first plan was to get Eka standing in the rain and the rest of us take some snaps. But we came up with another wacky Plan B as the rain was slowly turning from heavy downpour to drizzles. We wanna make a full usage of the nice balmy weather so we quickly headed off to Putrajaya where there was a good spot to shoot some 'random shits'.

We walked up and down the hill, one of us took off his shirt, two of us jump around like little kids and a fella had his tripod set up so we could prove to the world that we are indeed retarded. The names are Eka, Ibah and Jeremy.

That's Jeremy trying to plan a sabotage on his model (me) and another one is Eka looking like a 5 year old fiddling with his camera. I wanted to post up more but than i havent had the time to edit my self-potrait (credit to Eka who is kind enough to risk his life climbing up the bridge to take some shots of me). I'll leave the photos to the experts and upload the candid ones instead.

Check out my kungfu action at Eka's and our descent wacky photo at Jeremy's There's actually a three different sets of stories and photos :P

Out of the many attempts of making Eka look good in my photos, here is one of the result. The left one is the original shot while the right one is...well as you all know, i suck the color out as usual and make him look a bit more moody. You can take a look at the photo here

Later in the evening, Eka and I headed out for dinner somewhere in Subang. And a funny thing happened while we were busy munching and talking. A sad face cat was hanging around at our table trying to gain our sympathy when Eka started to feed her with some pieces of chicken nuggets. When she got the bigger bite, she quickly ran away with it. It was weird at first upon seeing this and so we kept on feeding her with big bites to see where she had ran off to. But after the fourth time a cute little kitty tag along with her as she came back to our table. Mystery's solved! She was actually giving the chicken to her baby all the while!! Think, it is really foolish for some of us human who had 'buang anak merata-rata'. Honestly, i feel really embarassed!

And i'm still thinking about the cat and her baby.

.happy birthday laundry!.

Last thursday was a happy fun night for me as i got the chance to celebrate Laundry's first anniversary down at The Curve. Had to thank my dear friend, Zatyl who had decided to drag me along. As Laundry turned one, they had a blastful birthday bash, showcasing some of Malaysia's kick-ass bands and musicians. Bittersweet, Love Me Butch, Tempered Mental and Reza Salleh were my favorite performances for the night.


Met a few old friends there too. Here's a shot of me and my twin sister Intan a.k.a SueAnnaJoe. Wish that Tay Guan could see this photos and pick which is which!

I totally suck at shooting indoors. But managed to get some shots of motionness that I like. Both Zatyl and I were so super frisky and crazy, laughing our heart out and giggling like schoolgirls. Yep, me miss the fun nights with her and are glad that she a-called me early in the morning to persuade me to go b-fetched me up at serdang c-and finally drag me along to laundry! By the end of the night, as we hit the sack...i say:

'Good night, Zatyl. Thank you for a lovely fun night.'

Do check out more of the party's photos here.

.candid moments.

A candid portrait of Amrin, my cousin's little son. Isn't he a cutie? It is a bit tricky to get a good shot of him laughing and smiling. He was playing with my mom when i shot this one. We were at the kitchen and the only available light was the natural light that peeks through the open door and a direct sunlight shone from the above transparent, blueish white metal roof. I wanted to leave the color as it is but i'm a sucker for black&white photos so i suck all the colors out as usual :P

More photos in my photoblog so feel free to browse around!

And i would like to wish my dear friend Azrul a very happy birthday! its his birthday tomorrow :)

.the letter that never came.

I found an old love letter. My love letter. It seems that mom had hid it away from me all these years. She kept it safely amongst her important mails and bills. The letter was dated on January 1999.

Eight years. She had managed to keep it out of my sight for a good eight years.

‘To my dear Fio’ was all that written on the white envelope. I knew quickly who it was from. There’s only one person who calls me by the name.

Iwan.

My heart skipped a bit.

Ikhwanuddin, or iwan, is an old comrade of mine back during my high school years. I was sixteen when I first got to knew him and he is a year older. Witty, intelligent and cynical is all that I may perhaps, describe about this lad. I could say that he is one of my earliest guy friend (I studied in an all girls school, mind you) and was one of the closest. Our friendship grew through regular phone calls and emails as he was studying in St John Institute, KL and I in Muar. What bind us were our interests in football and sarcasm. We both think we were so damn cool just because we didnt read Ahadiat Akashah's romance novels like any other kids our age. Yep, we were pathetic alright.

There is another thing that I can clearly recall about Iwan; he hates writing, let alone writing letters.

And the letter was handwritten. I was really touched! Okay, it didn’t quite look like a romantic love letter but iwan really showed an effort! He sketched some cartoon on the back of the envelope, wrote on pink papers (he knew I love pink papers) and he even carefully cut out a picture of Siti Nurhaliza and Paolo Maldini (ooh and he knew I love Maldini), paste it on the paper and wrote some funny dialogues! He described the letter as 'tragic and sangat tak creative!' but hey its the thoughts that counts aite? Together with the letter was a beautiful greeting card. Its quite a shot, i must say, for a geeky nerdy boy whose world revolves around scoring straight As, football, calculus and computer games. Innit he wrote mostly about his football scholarship and daily routines at home but it also looked as if he tried to disclose his feelings. Awwww.

Our friendship was based on honesty and sincerity. I cannot remember if he ever try to hit it on me unlike most boys i've known back then. He wasn't the typical lad...you know...the girls+boys=we must date kinda typical.

We had not keep in touch for nearly 6 years now. I remembered him every now and then but i am totally clueless as where to find him. I have lost his mailing address, his email doesnt work anymore and i'd lost all his contact numbers too. I tried to search around but to no avail. The last phone call he made was to tell me he landed on a private scholarship doing something on financing but he never mentioned about the letter.

As to why my mom had hid it, well...its pretty obvious. No mommy wants her daughter to be carried away in the lovey-dovey world, kan?

I just hope he is doing well, wherever he is right now :)

.coloring people's soul.

Often when I travel around with my camera, faces and people are two of my favorite things to capture. Here is a snapshot i took of my dearest buddy, Muzzo during one of our hang-out session. 'Make me look good, Ib' he says. I remember the first time I met this guy, he refused to let me take a shot of him. His reason was simple; 'I never look good in photos.' though i would love to think otherwise. So to prove him wrong, i just clicked my shutter regardlessly. Slowly, shy Muzzo creep out of his shell and began to pose for me each time he sees me pointing my camera at him. And after a while, he began to develop some self-confidence within himself that nowadays his favorite line is 'Come on, Ib...make me look good!' As you can see in the photo above, my buddy willingly stare at the camera!

I've captured hundreds of faces of old folks, young children, man, woman but yet no faces is boring to me. Some turns out good, some aren't. I believe that a photo is usually look at but seldom look into. Everytime someone tells me how sharp my photos are, i tend to cringe. As it isnt the sharpness or quality that i wanted to show, its the story behind it that i wanted to tell. If it were, i assume they would have more to say about it. I havent found any provoking impact yet but perhaps one day. I want people to see, feel, engage and connect with the whole photograph than just look at it. I want to photograph the color of their soul.

And I have a lifetime to do this :) Practice! Practice! Practice!


Here is another shot of my unpaid models..hehe. I am still trying to get a good shot of him, as my camera still hasnt quite engage to the subject just yet. Perhaps because he knows the model is actually a damn talented photographer himself. This is taken during dinner as we were waiting for the meal to be served. I could have done more with this one, i like the shadow that falls on Eka's face but yea...i could have done more with it.

And as i already said, i could have done more. Photo newly edited. :)

Anyways, you can enjoy more soulful photos of my little angels at my photoblog. Enjoy!

.kebarangkalian yang ada.

it has been a pretty bad day for me and words cant describe everything that has been going on and how i feel right now.

but sometimes a comic strip describes it pretty well...in a damn funny way! XD this one cracks me up. honestly, i should always remember to check out my car! poor ped. her battery went flat because i forgot to turn off her light today. Stupid ib.

And after a while, it gets pretty shitty really that everytime i walk back to my car...I worry a lot about the kebarangkalian that something bad might happen to my beloved kembara. soddof disturbing, all these scary thoughts. i think those who is close to me knows ped's traumatic nightmares and could relate to the joke :P

and here's another interesting cute bits i stumbled upon the net:

The thief: A cat nick-named Macavity

The crime: Has been seeing using the same bus route for weeks. He gets on at the same bus stop almost every morning and gets off at the next stop which is near a Fish and Chips shop.

A bus driver said, "It is really odd, the first time I saw the cat jumping off the bus with a group of passengers. I hadn't seen it get on which was a bit confusing.

"The next day I pulled up on Churchill Road to let a couple of passengers on. As soon as I opened the doors the cat ran towards the bus, jumped on and ran under one of the seats, I don't think any of the passengers noticed.

"Because I had seen it jump off the day before I carried on driving and sure enough when I stopped just down the road he jumped off - I don't know why he would catch the bus but he seems to like it. I told some of the other drivers on this route and they have seen him too."

Awww but lookee that cute face!! I'm afraid that one day he'll be arrested for not paying any bus fare! But hey, a pussy gotta do what a pussy gotta do...a pussy gotta have her fish!

:D

p/s check out my photoblog. updated!!

.lovesick.

Last Friday had been what i called as 'reward yourself' day. I had been under the weather as of late that i really need to cheer my poor dear soul. Had a great day out with my sister doing some shopping, hunting for crunchy choc doughnuts and drowning ourselves in books. She, generous as she always is, bought me a tote and treated me to a superb luncheon. Also, got myself two classics to read; Jane Austen's and Charles Dickens's. I'm starting off with Great Expectations.

I felt as if i had fell in love again, clutching the books tight to my chest, the smell of the newly bought and the feel of the pages really swept me off my feet. As i drown myself in the rows of classics, the world suddenly grew awfully quiet. It was really...peaceful. Just me and the books.

Later at night, still with the lovey dovey feeling in my chest, went out for dinner with Eka at Hartamas. We were joined in by Muid and Abby half way through meal. Again, i fell in love, this time with my friends and their sick jokes. Fun, happy people! And as i would often say; 'good food, great company.' These two go hand in hand.

And by the end of the night, i was all flustered with sappy romantic feelings. I am so lovesick! I do not know why, pardon me if i am being cheesy but i think i am easily in love with all the small things in life than i am with a man. The smell of a book, how the beans sprout look on my kuew tiao (though its not suppose to be there), the company of lovely friends, the deserted KL roads at two in the morning...i am easily in love with all these little things.

Feeling silly...i deleted the previous entry.

i think its good to keep silent for a while.
words cant express everything.
a person feels.
words are flaccid.

-andrej tarkovsky-