Klik Klik * I gotcha!

i LOVE photos… digital or printed… especially if a photo has a story to tell.

Since I was small kid, I loved to look at photos very much. Growing up, I’d still be looking at photos of yesteryears and remembering the times they were taken… I dunno, maybe this has helped me in keeping the memories fresh in my head.

In my teenage years, I remember I was always nagged at, by my elder sister, if the photos I took did not have nice angles. Especially when she was in Form 5, I had to take a lot of her self portrait (she wanted to put on friends’ autographs). Her complaints had me on guard everytime I took pictures of people. Center! Balanced! Focused!

I also started to develop love for photos from hi-definition cameras. At that time, manual SLR. Alisa used a SLR since she was 13. Looking at her developed photos, wow… admiration. I thought “hmmm.. bila lah aku leh amik gambaq cun macam ni aaa”. Then, I came across bunch of photos Jessie took, I was mesmerised, which led to, me chasing her for editorial board… hihiihih… I really admire their photography.

For my sis’ matriculation’s graduation, my dad borrowed his collegue’s SLR since our camera was out of order. I was salivating over it, and immediately took control. Hihihi.. konfiden je lebih… But, not all the pictures turned out ok. Malu jek.. hahahaa…

Jump a few years… while I was doing degree, in midst of completing programming assignments and chasing project dues, I found myslef glued to the computer, creating super-imposed photos. Yaa.. talk about spending too much time on computers! :P I nearly got in trouble because of that. After that, I became more sensitive on editing people, because some people may get hurt if we simply brush off or brush in certain things. On the other hand, that gave me a head-start for photo editing.

Then, digital cameras came in the market, but not many owned it yet. I remember Dindi was among the first one having this gadget so we had some digital photos of degree year… thanks to her camera and also bukh’s desa harapan’s camera :P~ Remembering it now… ahaha.. even most of my convocation photos were taken using film-roll camera… hihihi..

After working for about one year… motivated by Alisa’s , I bought a semi-SLR (Sony-H1).

My very own camera… I was sooo excited. Tak henti-henti klik sana klik sini… Never have I planned to do wedding photos. At first, I was only a tag-along photographer, usually providing company to Alisa, who started doing wedding shots using her manual SLR and semi-SLR.

A few months later, Kak Haira gave me her trust to cover her wedding as the official photographer. With my semi-SLR, I took the challenge. From the feedbacks I’ve got, I started to take more challenges, covering weddings even from people who are not in my networks.
At first, I felt stiff, at times a bit shy. I was more gabra than the groom for nikah ceremony… worried if I might missed the most important shot, the akad itself. After some time, I gained more and more confidence. Although, I tend to have gabra-ness every now and then… i’d be recovering fast.

Editing is more tiring than shooting. It involves time and effort… and that can also mean taking away some of the precious times allocated for other things. Perfecting the skills is a must… therefore, I am still learning… As for photography, my Lighting still needs a lot of practise n learning.

Maintanence is also high. Switching to DSLR-Nikon D60 which I currently shoot with, took months of saving. Since I don’t charge as much as professional photographers, I do not earn that much. So maintanence and upgrading has to take months of saving. Yaa.. like many people say, Photography is an expensive hobby… yeahhh.. IT IS! I can buy a big new fridge for my family at the price of a new lense. Hard labour u see… heheheheehe…

But… why I am taking all these trouble… I should say challenge… Trouble sounds so negative lak.

It’s all in the name of Love and Passion :D:D


I quote my sis “Tu la pakwe dia sejati, bawak ke hulu hilir” refering to my camera… hohohoh..oh ya pakwe lama, Sony masih dihatiku… tak sampai hati nak jual balik.

the paper boat

8.30am (*I assume). Ehehe.. I was still sleeping when Ain called me :P

“Auntie nina(x3)… I want a boat”

tgh mamai lagi… but I could feel she was placing a small piece of paper on my palm. Half asleep, I took the paper and tried to make it into a boat… then… I doze off.

“Auntie2… my boat” oopss… tertidur…

Actually I didn’t know what I was doing, I was half asleep and it was pitch black (*my room is super-dark), therefore, I followed my childhood instinct and fold the paper with my eyes still closed.

Then… I realized the shape of the paper was not appropriate, we need a square… and again using instinct, tore away the unwanted area. Ain, without fail, came in every now and then to ask if I’ve completed her boat.

I started folding again. dunno how many failed attempt… reopen and doze-offs… but finally, fold and fold and… yeyyyy.. it’s a BOAT!!! Zzzzz

“Aunty… boatt…" I hand her the boat, she shouted happilly and ran out. If I heard her correct, singing in joy "yeahhh I got a boat… I got a boat…” …

I was like “aaaa… I still have the touch for a paper boat.. yippieee”… and…ZZzzzz …..zzz

* * * * * * * *

Later in the evening… she gave me a piece of paper…

“Aunty Vote“

i wrote an “X“ on the paper… She sulked…

“Aunty… vote laaa“

aaar? what symbol i should draw eh…. “What u want?”

“I want a boat laaa“

oppss… Boat… bukan Vote….

Boat?? hmm boat… why does it sound familiar eh???

Then, the picture of me sleeping in a boat… eh eh.. No… sleeping and making a boat came back to me. “uiksss. Did I really made one or was I dreaming???”

I ask her about the boat…it so happens dat… the boat has taken a voyage… down to my parents room and safely harbored at the back of the TV set…


Ahaks… tadaaaa…. here’s the paper boat…




~ invoke the child in me ~

No, Uncle... I don’t love you :P

Have u been in situation where u find urslef lost in translation? it happens a lot i guess when ppl talk in languages that u dont master and u really feel lost... especially when u desperately need the information that's passing thru... frequent huh? hmmm... and have u even been in situation where u are "caught" in between translation?

Here is my intepretation of being Caught in translation :P :P

It was last day of convocation festival. I was so busy at the gift shop, helping with the sales so I didn’t have the leisure to go around the convo site. Shops and stalls were supposed to be closed before midnight so I used the few hours left to go around and look for something worth a purchase.

I stopped at the book stall, they were from Saba media. They sell Islamic books and journals and most of them were in English. My original intention was to get a copy of al-Mathurat, but browsing through; I found some page-turning books.

The owner and his staff conversed in Tamil when they speak among themselves. I was going through 3 books when suddenly an elder man whom I guessed would be the boss; he was around 50 years old, condemning his assistant for giving the wrong price to one of the customers beforehand. The younger guy had certainly hit below the margin and he was apologizing for the mistake. It was not a serious argument as a few minutes later they were chatting and laughing over some other matters.

I didn’t mean to eavesdrop but I couldn’t help it, I just understood every single thing. From one look, slalunya people tak bajet yang i can understand or apatah lagi bercakap dalam bahasa lain slain bahasa kebangsaan. but seriously, nowadays mmg takleh bajet sapa bleh cakap bahasa apa kan... sudah rojak maa.

By the way, back to the story, I thought I was being rather mischievous, thinking the information would be pretty handy for me to bargain later, heheh.

The boss was in front of me and upon realizing that I was somehow glued to the books, he approached, speaking in Malay and English “Good books, just choose which one, harga boleh kurang”

I was laughing inside; yes I know can kurang sampai mana. The uncle explained about the books that I was flipping through and finally I made my choice. He stated the price and with the information I had earlier... now, it’s the time to bargain, I decided.

“Tak boleh kurang ka?”

Oh nooo… What I said was fine but my tone was, if I heard myself correct, sounded a bit seductive. Euuuww… didn’t know where that came from… :P

The uncle choked and turned to his assistant, speaking in tamil

“Pochida, kadhal udherangge”Translation: “Alamak, she’s trying to seduce me”…

Ohh tidakkk…. He was about the same age as my father and no way that I would have any intention to be funny with him. Tidakk!! My face turned hot out of embarrassment and disbelief. Usually when ever I caught up in a situation where I understood what people say and it was about me, I just kept quiet. But that night was not one of those, I had to clear my image :P

Therefore, I gathered my courage, cleared my throat and said clearly

“Anthe mari kadhal kadhal la kadiyathe”
Translation: “No such lovey dovey thing going on here”

Hence it was then the uncle’s turn for embarrassment and disbelief. He looked over to his assistant again and that guy was already half way exploding with humongous laugh.

In just a blink, the sheepish man jumped out of the stall and couldn’t hold his own laughter as well. I stood there not making an inch of a move and I was posing a macho stature because I knew I was at the winning side.

After he was somehow composed, he came back in and asked in tamil “speak tamil?” I just nodded a macho nod. He kept apologizing and said he was just joking. I knew it was a joke but I manipulated the situation to make them feel guilty ehehehe… well, with the hope I get extra-extra discount for the book.

I spoke as monotonous as I could sound, and stressed the word uncle so that my intention would not be misinterpreted again. As a result, I came back buying the book with a good discount and feeling very fulfilled, like I won some match or something… Ahaks…

So… what have u learned from this incident?

Don’t judge a book by its cover

1. Marilah kita belajar pelbagai bahasa
2. Control your intonations and gestures when you speak, people can get the wrong ideas okay…
3. Kadhal means Cinta/Love
4. I am seductive after all… hihihihihie

= This story happened back in August 2006 =]