Characters

I LOVE THIS PHOTO. It just shows so many characters. The silliness, the serious ones, people having conversations in the background, some posing and most smiling. It's such a happy photo to look at.

Anyway, I just thought I'd dedicate this photo to those people in the picture. They came up to me and asked where they could see it. If you are one of them, drop me a message and I can e-mail you the photos. The above has been edited in photoshop and reduced in resolution.

Here's another one.

More photos as soon as I have the time to upload them.

Reaching

DID YOU SEE THE AFTERMATH of last night's storm? At work, roofs were blown off, windows shattered into pieces, window frames flew inside the building breaking a lot of things on its way.

I was at home during the thunderstorm, spending time with the PS3 until all of a sudden I could hear the strong winds. I didn't think it was bad but turned out it was horrific. My sister recorded a scene at the perayaan in bandar where people were running towards the stage and under tents while others were trying to hold these tents together. Cries were heard here and there and apparently, a group of female Indonesians ran into the men's toilet, crying, thinking it was another tsunami.

On my way to work this morning, I saw huge trees rooted out and fallen in the middle of the road. Another fell on electric cables. There were also houses with completely blown off roofs. Scary. Thank God I was at home. Although, after hearing my mom's story about the storm lastnight, I did had the tinniest feeling of wanting to run out and start taking photos of the aftermath. Call me crazy, but I really really wanted to - if only my wife hadn't told me to stay put.

Photo: Reaching, taken during last Sunday's event.

Camera Wars

CAMERAS ARE AMAZING, well most of the time. When they are crowding your space though, it's war. Every man for himself. Take the following two photos for example.

They're a mess. That one camera is covering the Sultan's face. I hate it. This time, in Bandar, during the Bersama Rakyat event in conjunction with His Majesty's 61st birthday was a fight to the end. And I ended up at the losing end.

Yesterday, I saw on the front page of The Brunei Times an excellent shot of this same scene but from a higher, wider, different angle. And in that photo, I saw my hand and my camera, taking these shots. Now, to find that photo so I can point it out to you guys.

PS: Some more photos have been uploaded to My PicasaWeb albums. Go check out HM 61st Bersama Rakyat Album.

Patriots

I AM EXTREMELY TIRED from this morning's event. His Majesty's Bersama Rakyat ceremony is huge! I think the sultan have a heck of a lot of patience just walking around the field and bandar to shake everybody's hands. I think that's over thousands of hands. Personally, I wouldn't be able to do that. I'd be too paranoid with where these hands have been before they start shaking my hand.

Anyway, the event was long. Very long. Longer than years past. And the weather was boiling hot. I was drenched from my sweat. Best part? I took almost 6gigs of memory just on photos. Over a thousand of them. I just processed and uploaded these two for now because they show exactly what I went through, the crowded streets and the over enthusiastic kids. The rest of the photos will be uploaded in the gallery once I've finished processing them. So stay tuned!

PS: Slow updates lately due to overloaded with work.

Beautiful Abandoned World

KNOW WHAT I MEANT TO SAY on the last two post? Finally! I'm back online! Yeah. That was what I meant to write. But in the middle of fighting my sleepiness and contemplating whether I'd finish doing work or not, my muse failed me, left me, and went to sleep without waiting for me. Such a tragic night.

Tell me, have you ever been to a tiny village that felt like it was abandoned yet it looks so beautiful? I went there only two days ago. Located far away from civilization, hundreds of potholes away is Kuala Balai, sitting right next to a clear glassy river. The place, even with the lack of maintenance, still looks amazing - despite the poop infested toilets, broken benches and fragile houses that seem like it would crush down any second. I can imagine how fantastic it would be if the place was maintained properly. Seriously, I'd like to see it.

Kuala Balai Trip

Y'KNOW WHAT THEY SAY, take it step by step. And that's what I'm doing. With the lack of sleep I've been getting, I need all the extra rest I could get (if there are any to begin with). Heck, even my muse is asleep!

It's past midnight, and I should be in bed. Note, "should be". But I'm not. Why? Because I want to update this post with one last entry before I retire for the night. Last Sunday, my wife was part of STPRI's Kuala Balai trip organised by Datalish (the same dudes who dealt with our Niah trip). She invited me and I chose and dubbed myself as the photographer of the day (although, they kinda had their own official photographers).

Will update with more photos once my muse had enough sleep. Plus, I've got photos from STPRI's 50th Anniversary to post too (that's gonna be two albums on STPRI - man, where do I really work?).

PS: Kuala Balai is in Belait district.

Royalty At Hand

THINGS HAVE BEEN HECTIC LATELY, thus is the rather sparse update the past few weeks. I haven't stopped taking photos though. It's the updating and uploading that I do not have the leisure to do. I've got photos from a number of events that have been happening around the country.

Lately though, most of my photography has been focussed on taking photos for the 2007 magazine at work. I'm the assistant chief editor and we wanted a photography theme for the mag. So we've been taking photos daily of people at work, especially the long hard group photos. Add those to my already busy schedule. I'm telling you, they are not letting you go easy after you just got married.

Anyway, thought I'd share the following photo taken from STPRI's 50th Anniversary, Friday, 29 June (Yes! I know! Two weeks late!) of Raja Isteri (the Queen) shaking hands with my wife.