The Old Quay

the island of Penang is no stranger when it comes to preserving their heritage. the streets of George Town is adorned with murals that range from tasteful to kitsch. the old Chinese and peranakan shophouses and mansions largely remain unspoiled, though recent years have seen parts of town undergoing bouts of gentrification.

the old quays of George Town, consisting of piers occupied by several Penang Chinese clans, for the better part remains unfazed by the ravages of time. our early morning bicycle ride along the quay was mostly quiet, with nary a soul astir. the rain clouds loomed above our heads as we navigate the labyrinthine alleyways buried among the wooden houses built on stilts. it was in the Tan jetty where we spotted a pier stretching out towards the peninsular mainland. as we made our way to the edge of the pier, the wooden jetty creaked under our feet and the wind started picking up in a northerly manner. we had a schedule to meet, and perhaps a looming storm right above our heads, but the brief moment of tranquillity at the edge of the pier is refreshing among the bustle of George Town. the island continues to grow - roads are widened into highways, sleek condos pop up like mushrooms after the rain, and tourists flood the island and cram up the city. yet this little corner of George Town remains as it always did, perhaps for the past hundred years.

the ocean beckons, yet the city stands firm.

Penang: The Pearl of the Orient

this is an entry i never got around to composing. in an attempt to revitalize the blog, i thought it apt to start with this trip up north to the Pearl of the Orient about a year ago.

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George Town oozes with heritage, and the locals are proud to commemorate them. walk down a random alley and a mural painted on old peeling walls greet you. there is this charm to be found in these old dilapidated buildings - maybe it is the urban dweller's recoil from all the new shiny anonymous buildings that loom above the Kuala Lumpur skyline. lanes, alleyways, old peranakan mansions, and dingy shophouses stake their claim to the glorious splendour that is old George Town. i wander about trying to absorb the antiquity and the authenticity, like a tourist in a foreign land. frozen in time, yet moving forward with the times. seventy-five years down the road, will the shiny buildings of Kuala Lumpur be gazetted as heritage sites? will microcosms like George Town be able to resist the tidal wave of development? will the murals painstakingly crafted by Ernest Zacharevich stand proudly as they once did?

but we move along - from Armenian Street, to the Esplanade, to Bishop's Lane, and back. like the passage of time, George Town and its people feels like it will move with the times. a new generation will venerate the heritage and fight to preserve it for more people to experience and appreciate. as long as people come back and tell their loved ones the beauty of this piece of history, so it shall remain in the collective consciousness that we are nothing without our roots.

book and camera

another year came and went, and 23 still remains as a footnote of my photography endeavours. 2015 sees no major upheavals, other than the premature reacquisition of some sort of groove. all in all, gigs were attended, trips were made, photo walks were carried out, basically the bare minimum of activities a photography enthusiast performs in order to actually be arsed to take some photographs. to be fair, 2015 wasn't my most active year in terms of photography, although i try to sustain the enthusiasm with minor solo photowalks and social obligations that don't quite spark any fires, but keeps the ember going for now. at least it gives me reason not to let the EOS 6D sit in the dry box collecting mould.

towards the third quarter of 2015, i decided to make a photo book that doesn't involve me gifting it to somebody else. photo book crafting is interesting because not only does it force you to re-evaluate your photographs, but it also gives one a sense of direction when it comes to taking photographs. it goes without saying that i take my photographs willy nilly without so much as a thought about a unified theme, colour scheme, shape, or even subject (though i admit, i do like taking photographs of subjects from the back). compiling photographs for Fraulein was simple enough - it was a straightforward photo book of a particular person, maybe it gravitates on the border of portraiture and gravure. however, there needs to be a flow and transition between the photographs. one does not simply jump from one non sequitur to another. some form of logic should be applied. for the most part, Fraulein fortunately doesn't require as stringent as the requirements of a logical flow to fully appreciate the work. but it got me dwelling on how photo books require a lot of thought in its construction. flipping through hundreds and thousands of photographs is no laughing matter. one may be hit with a temporary wave of nostalgia at first glance through some old photographs, but upon realizing that a more satisfying flow could've been achieved had one taken a particular photograph in an alternative manner, it becomes incredibly frustrating.

admittedly, i find that composing a photo book to be such a wonderful process. nostalgia aside, being able to dig through the "rejected" lot and bringing them back to life by slipping them into the context of their "ascended" brethren is satisfying beyond words. i started making photo books some number of years ago, but solely for gifting - as a gesture to people i am closed to. printed photographs go beyond a social media post and the likes and comments that entail it. you own the photographs, and they remain private within the realm of which you wish to present them. for 2016, i hope to compile more photo books - one that will be as personal to me as the photo books i gifted to the ones i love. among the thousands of material i have, there has to be some sort of serendipitous theme, or setting i could cultivate and keep in mind for future photographs. it gives my photos a purpose - and that really excites me. i guess what i'm lacking at the moment is a sense of self-fulfilment, and a sense of accomplishment. Fraulein, and the many other photo books i've made were indeed achievements of their own, but to make a personal book i truly am satisfied with will be a triumph.

photographs deserve more than just being stored in hard drives and online albums, they need to tell a story on their own. here's hoping that i'll be able to tell a story i want to tell with my photographs.