3 amazing people..

Whilst in Malaysia, I had the opportunity to photograph three simply amazing people, by chance.

Yvonne Foong 23, suffers from NF or neurofibromatosis Type 2, where benign tumours grow from her spine and in her brain, thus affecting her hearing and sight. Since 2002 she has has over 8 major surgeries to remove tumours in her spinal cord, and brain. She has published books and printed t-shirts, gave numerous talks and attended functions to raise money to pay for her surgeries in America. Yvonne has just completed the latest round of open brain surgery in May and will be seeking fund for another in 6 months time. Read her blog at www.yvonnefoong.com In my mind, she is one tough cookie! I bought a t-shirt.

January Low is what most consider 'gifted'. A child prodigy of sorts in the dance field. She is Ramli Ibrahim's protege for some 15 years, specialising in Indian Classical dance with the Sutra group. I met January in Singapore briefly over ice-tea by the Singapore Art Museum recently and got a few shots. She will be beginning a 6-month stint with a modern dance theater in South Korea soon, finally breaking off from Sutra to discover new realms in dance.




A meeting with Nathaniel Tan was purely by chance. He turned up as a visitor at the KL Photoawards 2009 finalists exhibition at The Annexe Gallery. I made an introduction as I recognised him and chatted briefly. Found out that he is into portraits as well and really liked the entries. Nat as his is more popularly known, runs a blog www.jelas.info

He is an activist, been ISA'd and a Harvard graduate. Read his blog.

KL Photoawards 2009 for Portraits : Judging begins!

I will be back in Malaysia this weekend to conduct the judging of the entries received for the first KL Photoawards. The last few days was frantic with so many last minute entries. ( Is this a typical Malaysian thing for last minute efforts? ) Thank you to all who have sent in your entries. We received work from as far away as Russia, US, Italy and Japan. The majority was of course from Malaysia, where the awards are held. Please do visit the website www.klphotoawards.com to vote for your favourite People's Choice portrait beginning March, 20th.

Remembering Diana

Photo © Mario Testino

Diana, Princess of Wales, 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997

Photos taken at Kensington Palace last Sunday, 31 August 2008, 11 years on.

Its Carnival Time!

Every bank holiday weekend in August since 1966, the streets in Notting Hill in West London play host to Europe's largest street party, The Notting Hill Carnival, (the second largest party in the world after Rio's).

With over 1 million people over the 2 days, many visitors, locals and tourists alike brave the sardine-packed streets to experience the mega sound systems, the colourful costumes, floats, Samba dancers, drummers, Chinese acrobats and of course the food the drink ala Caribbean-style.

Rum punch, brandy shots and jerk chicken with rice and peas, fried plantain, and lots and lots of beer thrown in or up, whichever suits your fancy.

I arrived early and walked the back streets and prep areas before the actual float parade started at noon. I usually prefer this routine than to come later and get stuck at the many bottle-necked entry points the police have set up to control the flow of people.

This way I get to photograph the performers getting ready and just chilling out in anticipation of their street performance for the rest of the day.

I intended to focus on faces and got a few that I like, just carrying my favourite portrait lens, the 85mm f1.8. Setting the aperture to f2.0 and getting up close would create a nice background blur to isolate the face from the often distracting background of street furniture and buildings. I also brought along my small Ricoh GRD2 to capture the wider scenes of the days, which was invaluable as i can often get real close to the scene without attracting attention.

Mind you, almost everyone had cameras, so the performers weren't camera shy. That made it easier to photograph complete strangers close up.

Icons in Time

Yesterday, being a surprisingly dry and sunny Sunday I decided to pay a visit to the National Portrait Gallery in London's West End, attached to the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square. Its been a while since I came here, and as all galleries have free entrance in the UK (except for special exhibitions) there's no reason not to visit one.



I came away summarising what I had encountered, about popular culture and the role of three icons, and what they mean to people, and how they are portrayed using art. All three are women, living in different eras in this century caught my attention.


Just by the entrance to the NPG, I came across this stone monument dedicated to Edith Cavell. Not knowing who she was I googled her name. She was a WW1 humanitarian and nurse, and was instrumental in helping many Allied soldiers escape from Nazi clutches in Belgium. She was subsequently captured and found guilty, executed by firing squad on 12 October 1915 by the Germans. Her death became an iconic symbol for the British Army recruitment programme, playing on her bravery. Her famous last quote,

''Patriotism is not enough, I must have no hatred or bitterness for anyone''

is engraved on her monument.

The second was a photographic portrait of Audrey Hepburn, Hollywood actress, beauty and fashion icon. She received numerous awards during her acting career and later, became a goodwill ambassador to the United Nations Children's Fund travelling to the impoverished countries of Africa. She died of cancer in Switzerland in 1993 at 63 years.


Audrey Hepburn, as a fashion icon, still lives on today (like Che!) and her image has been copied over and over by many of today's fashionistas and celebrities, and in posters and books.

The third icon that struck me was a series of portraits of Kate Moss, the infamous British 'supermodel'. Know for her sultry English looks she became Burberry's leading face despite the negative publicity which followed her purported 'drug use' secret video a few years ago. Her sharp features, even without make-up is her enduring asset.


Portrait photography, like no other 2-dimensional artform has an immediacy element. It gives the viewer a sense of reality, a freeze-frame, a slice in history, rendering all passage of time immaterial. It brings back the dead, and glorifies the living. That's my thought of the day...