Dancing In A Storm

I am affected with our local political news lately.
So much of negativity, racism, bias and harsh. I could feel that I am stressed out not just because of my personal tasks, but with all the issues which are happening around me.

I care for my nieces and nephews.
I care for my future children.
I care for my students.
I care for my family.
I care for my nation.
I care for our future.

 

Because I care too much, this is why I am affected and somewhere close to being depressed. Part of me worried if the sun is not showing itself any sooner. Will the rain water drown us all?

 

Well, all I want now is to….

Photo credit to Calv.

 

Dance like there's nobody watching,
Love like you'll never be hurt,
Sing like there's nobody listening,
And live like it's heaven on earth - William W. Purkey

 

May us be blessed with all the love and happiness around. Thank you God.

A Promise

As many of you would have known that I am no longer active blogger since year 2011. I used to be a daily if not weekly updater who will make sure new blog post is published every midnight (why midnight? Because I gain inspiration the most at this hour).

Well, I don’t know since when my motivation for blogging reduced and often be excused by the buziness of studies, thesis writing or now, work. Excuse always been replaced by new excuse and now, I am tired of repeating the same unproductiveness. I am discouraged by my inconsistency and for a lack of better word – laziness. Oh Gosh!

 

Despite of my disappearance from the blogosphere, my heart and soul are still always lingering around my blog. My passion in writing, photography and drawing is still as strong as the storm although it is not enough to make my fingers move. Well, not anymore because they are eager to run as fast as they can on the keyboard right now because curryegg is in ‘the determination’ to participate a challenge named “Blogging From A to Z April Challenge” which is inspired by Preetilata, a blogger friend from India.

 

As I was reading her post (read her very first April post. Beautifully written with a good touch of emotion and story), I’ve discovered the A-Z challenge and get pretty excited to join as well since what I need now is a ‘Tsunami strength’ to keep my motivation at peak so that in the end of the 2013, I will be so proud of myself with a colorful collection of personal stories.
[ This year theme for my blog: Explore the colours within yourself. I really love this theme especially the word colour  as it refers to the adventurous and uniqueness stories of me]

 

Besides, I will be superbly honored to announce to my readers, especially to my fiance with this opening phrase of “I HAVE MADE IT!!!”.

Why?

Because last December, he has made an  unbelievable research on the number of blog post posted each year and shared the result in curryegg FB page. I am impressed by his analytical mind but not the confidence of ruling over my performance =/

 

Such a bold statement uh?

If I am going to blog everyday except Sunday on April – it will be at least 26 posts. If i will blog at least 5 for the following months, it will be 5 X 8 = 40. So 26+40 = 66 posts! Yay! It is going to exceed both 2012 and 2012 years! Maths teacher is doing her Maths yo~


Oh gosh.
I gotta prove his hypothesis wrong for this year. Yes, I have to. I couldn’t imagine to receive another statistic finding from him in the end of this year. Oh no~

So, here is a promise I make to myself that I will blog every single day in the month of April by following the alphabet from A-Z except Sunday. Well, you better hope that this is an ‘April Fool’ blogpost because the egg is going to rule your month with her stories.

This is going to be ex-ci-tiiiiiiiiiiinggg!!

 

To end this post with some juices of creativity and romance, here is a year 2011 picture that I have not shown to anyone beside you (April Fool!).

 

 

| Do you know that Eiffel Tower is inspired by the capital letter of A? :)

Blogging A-Z April Challenge related post:
A – A Promise (current)
B – Bachelor Of Counseling And I
C – C Is The Most Interesting Alphabet!

Doing The Kuch Kuch Hota Hai Thingy

I used to tell Lakshumy, one of my very good Indian friends that I will do Bollywood dance in her birthday or future wedding together with my other Counseling coursemates. I said that during at 2010 Deepavali celebration at her house.

I didn’t know what come into my mind with that crazy idea. Maybe it was because Ilyana (my Singaporean coursemate aka the drama queen) was there and she activated my craziness side. I don’t really know how to do Indian dance but I can learn and do it publicly IF there are a group of people who do the move too. I am a very shy person, so.. ya.. =P

 

What happened was, both Ilyana and I did the move in front of Lakshumy. She was laughing out loud, included Shu Huan who was in the room too. Since then, Lakshumy had introduced me to her family by saying that Kelly will be the dancer in my future wedding ceremony or she could do Bollywood dance cutely.

 

Oh my. I feel like digging a hole and hide my head there. Lol..

 

Guess what, if I really have to do those move on Lakshumy’s big day, I am going to pull Jane in too because… SHE IS REALLY GOOD IN IT! LOOK!

 

 

 

She was doing the ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’ thingy and she looks absolutely gorgeous and professional. We even thought of making a movie because of her professionalism after we came back from the photoshoting. Besides, here is another proof…

And this…

Isn’t she just awesome?
Hah! I have found another good team member besides, Bei Shan, June, Shu Huan, Adibah, Ilyana, Kit Yen and Rani. Ngek ngek.. Welcome on board, the new Bollywood dancer!

 

P/s: Shall we get ourselves nice, shinning but not too expensive Sari?

P/s/s: If you have not seen those wonderful photo collection of Jane, head over to this link.

P/s/s/s: She wouldn’t realize this post until 1 week later. Lol.. I can’t wait to see her expression when she online again XD

Exploration Of A So-Called Photographer

It was 6.15am in the morning when my before-lost-phone *sob*rang with its familiar ringtone.  I had made a date with Jane to go for a short visit at Taman Botani Perdana, some where at the edge of KL.

I have always wanted to play with my D-eggie for so long ever since he became part of my family. However, I hardly find a suitable time, mood and people to play with and yesterday was a good timing I must say.

Because:
“School holiday makes curryegg a happy egg!!”   <------------ Totally random

 

We reached there about 8am (my first time driving there) and the place was kinda of quiet. We spotted a few joggers and cleaners. That is fine because the quiet morning with cool breeze are just what I missed so much. I was rejoiced by the sound of birds’ chirping and gooses squeaking. Lol.. exclude the gooses. Don’t know where they come from pun..

 

As I walked around the garden, I recalled some of the photography scenes which I gained  from Eric and his gang back in year 2008  when he invited me to be his model. It was a fun and flattering experience when you have 9 photographers all together in that 4 hours for 2 models (Mamak was together with me too).. You can see some of the photos of myself back in 2008 with the funny-yellow-hairband.

 

And now, I am the so-called photographer after 4 years and making Jane to be my model.. *feeling proud*

 

 

We spent nearly 4 hours at the garden and I managed to get these much of photos. So here are the result.

8.00am – When the sky was still hazy and gloomy. Less light. I didn’t know her black shirt will turn out all right with black color background.

Lesson learned: Never try, never know.

Pretty love her natural expression here when she was trying to scratch her leg as a result of mosquitoes love bites. Note: Please bring mosquito repellant with you when you go outdoor shooting! You don’t want your photo be ruined by your unhappy expression!

 

9am – When the sky almost started to rain.
We found a tourist bus here and started playing around. The effect is pretty good.
By the way, I suspected my phone fell at this place. Bad bus T.T

9.30am – The rain stopped and the environment looks fresher than ever. That is why Jane did some exercises and tai chi poses. Lol..

This was also the place we spotted gooses! Can you spot the couple?

 
Next, she continued with her Bollywood pose. Just, this time she came out from bamboo tress which is slightly different compare to usual Bollywood scene =P

 

     Tried to snap the flying seeds clearly but unsuccessful. Still a good picture for me… :)

 

10.10am -
The sun was out and the effect was pretty good. I like how the camera capture the light of my model and the leaves. The yellowish+greenish effect of the plants make my picture look good. Oh, can you see the Bokah effect? This time it is the shape of circle and I managed to do that with some manual setting. First attempt! =D

 

Don’t you just love her smile? So natural =)

 

10.40pm -
The light was still good. Captured this at a nearby staircase. I like the grey in color background. It helps her to stand out when she was wearing black in color blouse but not so much for her pants.

 

11.10am -
We came to this playground area when the sun released warmer air and hurtful sun ray. This was the moment you spotted several groups of wedding photographer team. Many couples came here for their wedding photography despite of races. Should I come here too? No.. too common. I think i want pink color leaves trees or blue ocean as background. Or Eiffel Towel as the companion or sitting on a gondola?

I want romantic feel.
Wahhhh~ *imagining myself as a princess*

 
Ok. Back to my photos. The atmosphere became quite bright and objects’ color turn out to be very sharp. However, some photos can be over-exposed with the strong lighting.

Also, one of my favorites <3

There was a moment when I took this photo and I purposely isolate this from the rest because it brings out a different kind of feel. I turned it into Black & White photo with her cool expression. The effect is pretty good. I did jokingly tell her in FB yesterday that she looked like someone from the ‘Zaman Kesultanan Melayu Melaka’ because of her scarf! Hahahahaha… That is what I saw in KBSM History Text Book on Hang Tuah and Hang Jebat attire XD

  Still a nice photo of her. Credit to Jane Ho =)

 

I will show you 3 photos of myself, taken by Jane but before that I would want to explain something first. I didn’t expect to snap any photo of myself and a day before the photography session, my brain had already convinced me to wear something black with jeans because that is what a professional photographer will normally wear.

 

Wanting to look like a photographer, I dress myself like what my brain instructed with a pony tail and no make-up. Obviously, I did not expect any camera will point at me. Plus, I was pretty sleepy and no mood for one. However, Jane was good in convincing and in the end, she managed to get me pose. So here are the 3 photos which I find quite nice.

 

Ignore the imperfection if you spotted.

I edited this photo with my own quote and has already become my FB cover photo. Hah… Someone just commented on this photo that I look like a secondary school student. Well.. thank you and I should never ever let my students see all these >.<

I pretty like how the red bag stand out.

 

It was a great experience being a photographer when you could communication and work well with the model. Both Jane and I find it easy to help out each other. Well, because we were good, old friend. But I wonder how will it feel to be a photographer for a stranger(s)? Would I get such a positive experience too? Or ended up being stressful?

 

Anyway, my question now is… am I eligible to be a photographer?
If yes, say “Way to go CurryEgg”. If not, say “Good job, Eggie”. Lol.. this is what I did to my students. Guess, my teacher’s persona come out once in a while too =P

 

Anyway, time to continue my assignment! I miss blogging long post with latest photos like this. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

 

P/s: My model look great even with no make-up. Thus, I am happy to share photos of myself with no make-up too because I think small eyes deserve attention too, like hers. Lol.. being random again.

 

P/s/s: Self confident is the key for beauty.

Passion in Photography Since Three

I am always passionate about photography since I was very small. My parents knew about it, especially my dad. It all begins from this very first photo taken by me when I was about… em…. three?

  First attempt – Failed!
I think dad was saying, “Girl.. more to the right.. to the right..”. Lol.

2nd attempt – Better~
*happy*

I still remember how I cried and insisted to hold the camera and take my parents’ photo because I wanted to role modeling my dad (dad added on that we were at Botanical Garden. Lol.. he still remember when I asked just now!). My dad, who was our family photographer was reluctant to allow me to hold the camera. Well, logically I was too small for sophisticated gadget like that. What if it falls into the water? Or dropped onto the floor? Haha…  I didn’t, ok? I was born as a pro man! =D

 

I was at this age. My mum was skinny and gorgeous =D

 

It was a film camera during that era and I was nervously waiting for the result when dad returned from the printing shop. I have good memory back then! Once dad showed me the result.. I was so proud with myself. I jumped around the living hall, showing happily the result to my parents. Ever since then, mum and dad allow me to use the family’s camera – and now.. I have my own baby. Yeay!

 

Have I introduce my 60 Deggie yet?
No? How can?

My very first DSLR – Canon D60

 

My first photography adventure using my new toy started from my cousin’s wedding. I was ‘hired’ to help her to capture every memorable moments so that she can keep them for a long, long time. Of course, I am honored to be able to help. However, I wasn’t a good photographer yet (I don’t think I am good even now).

 

Photo taken by Mac (cousin) and I think he is a pro! *Jealous*

He took so much better probably because I look good in the photo. Haha.. But honestly, I like it. So ya, I was the photographer in red semi cheong sam during that special event. I realize to be a photographer, it is rare to appear in photos. This was the only one I appeared in my own camera  T_T

 

It doesn’t take long to realize that I actually love taking portrait photos. With my new 50mm lenses, it does wonder. I could create and capture the type of photos I want. Natural expression is what I admire the most. So far, here are my ‘lucky models’… =D

 

 

I enjoy looking at how good my friends appear in the photos I took. It brings unconscious joy and pleasure and I still couldn’t figure why? Years before this, I like to see myself in photos. I will stare and observe every part of me whenever I was free. Sound freaky eh? But years after that, it turns out vice versa.

 

Now that I have facebook, the satisfaction of knowing how my friends like my masterpiece tripled! The more ‘likes’ + comments i received, the happier I become. I don’t know is this some kinds of narcissistic syndrome. Well, I can’t help when I could see my friends liked the photos that I took and edited =D

 

Such as these:

 

 

 

Personally, I love capturing happy moment of an individual or a group of individuals. Those natural and genuine smiles bring out the inner beauty of the person(s). That is why, I love taking random and spontaneous photos (when you least expected! So beware…) because that is when you capture the best moment of a person.

 

Unlike this…. =_=

 

 

Dad has different interest compared to mine….
That is why, my dad has retired from becoming the main photographer of the family ever since the rise of curryegg.  Haha… Oopss.

 

P/s: I think I am sexier when I was small compare to now. Why ar?

Cute Little Ellane ♥

I guess, lately I am more adjusted with my new teaching life. Or should I say, I am learning to be less stressful towards my new job? There are still a ton of things which need to be worked on but I also realized that my inner child wants to be nurtured. Therefore, photography came into the picture.

Just last Saturday, Calv and I visited Steve and his family to celebrate their new born. I brought my DSLR along, hoping that I will get a chance to get help from the-sifu (Steve is an expert). I am still a very new DSLR owner. Thus, there are still a lot more to be learned from all the experts =)

I was pretty shy at first to bring out my new toy because I didn’t feel it was a good time to disturb the hosts of the event. However, I was wrong when Calv managed to find a right time and broke my shy-ness away. I couldn’t tell why but I am a pretty shy person.

 

Anyway, I managed to get Steve’s help with the DSLR setting and have her cute daughter as my model after that. She is seriously cute and adorable!

 

I love the bokah effect.

Two cute ponny tails.

The best cheeky smile of Ellane =D

Ellane and her dad’s DSLR.

Mummy was dressing Ellane up.

 

I like my first photo album collection so far. What do you think?


One of the reasons that I like the most is the ability to snap some of the very precious moments – especially on Ellane’s facial expression because she moved so fast and my camera barely focused on her!

Photography is a real fun and therapeutic activity for me. I would love to do as much as I can in the near future. I wonder, can I snap my students when they are having their first formative exam tomorrow? =P

P/s: More to come!