10 Dec.

Ammo

there's this stigma i've always had towards my local surrounding - about how everything here in Malaysia seems very normal and not photogenic. that's a pretty bad way of approaching photography, i must admit. it's just childish to subject the local surrounding to such harsh judgment that it only limits my perception towards my surroundings. every time i browse through photo galleries and gape in awe how beautiful most foreign sceneries are in these photos, i get a little disappointed for living in such an average-looking country.

and that's where i feel like a huge part of my worldview of photography is extremely skewed.

hypothetically, to a French photographer, his/her country of France is his/her local surrounding, but still he/she would most probably be able to take beautiful pictures of his/her countryland, not because his/her country is beautiful, but because he/she takes breathtaking pictures. maybe it's this brainwashing and romanticizing of places that make them seem so beautiful in our eyes, and perhaps we're just biased at how we perceive our own country as not-as-pretty-as-Paris, but one should never doubt how his/her own country has its own hidden wonders if one looks hard enough.

to combat such stigma, lately i've been trying to reset my mindset to look for the beauty within the average. i'm actively perceiving everything through  my viewfinder, attempting to spot the beauty of my local surroundings. an exercise i no doubt, will find to be very fruitful and perhaps i would be able to better appreciate my country more, despite the political and social shenanigans. under varying conditions, and with a little bit of skill and a lot of luck, it's not too difficult to turn the average into interesting.

P.S. i apologize for the messiness of the interchangeable gender pronouns. i'm trying to be more politically correct. i think.