Déjà vu 3 - Dr. M and His Words

The old man is at it again, first he quit UMNO and now he is rejoining the ruling Malay party.

Fast rewind to November 2003, after 22 years; Dr Mahathir spend his last day as Malaysian Prime Minister. On the same day I arrived back to Wellington with my wife after an eventful 29 days stay.

Of my "short" visits, I spend a night in KL and finally got to meet up with Jeff Ooi! "A THIRTY years wait!" Jeff exclaimed... not bad, considered Dr M "DID IT" in 22! :-)

It was a most memorable day in KL indeed, Jeff took me to the National Art Gallery to see the "1,000 faces of Dr Mahathir" where I saw my "famous" shot of young M walking past his famous slogan... it was a HUGE print, if not the largest but arguably, my friends told me; was the most memorable picture of Dr M, EVER! I leave the judgment to you.

Fast forward to Thursday August 19, 1982... I was a young Photo Editor for The Star, waiting patiently for Dr M to come out from his meeting at the Second Army Division at Northam Road in Penang.

Déjà vu 2 - Shah Alam By Night

(Click for larger view!)

Sometime photographer will go all out to get the shot they wanted, take this night shot of Shah Alam for example...

New Canon Lens!

Got this in my mail today!

Oriental Bay

"Right beside the capital city, Oriental Bay is the premium residential location in Wellington. With stunning city and harbour views, morning to late evening sun and golden sandy beach, this area is the most sought after location in Wellington." - www.orientalbaystays.co.nz/

Our oversea friends were so impressed with the Bay that they requested me to post some of my Oriental Bay shots to rekindle their sweet memories :)

Affinity

Sometime in the early 80s I was asked to go with our senior reporter Anna Cheah to do a story on Venerable Chuk Mor in Penang. I will be the photographer and translator because Anna cannot speak Mandarin.

After the interview Anna asked me to ask Venerable if he can write her a scroll, (Chuk Mor's calligraphic skills were well known and highly sought after); the wise old man looked at Anna and asked me to inform her that he only write for people that he feel an affinity (yuan) to and he cannot feel that with Anna!

Photog's Swan Song

Caught up with a old photog friend last week and we reminisced the good time when we were younger and having fun in our job.

"So what DID you do that is worth remembering?" my friend asked me... past memories was like an overflow floodgate suddenly open and these stories of assignments are still vivid in my mind. Tell me what you think.

Cold Sweat...

Tuesday, November 14, 1978.

I was working the early morning shift in New Straits Times (Malaysia), I was told to go on a sampan with a reporter and secure a picture of Hai Hong which was anchored off Port Klang with 2,500 Vietnamese on board.

The media has been warned by the police NOT to be anywhere near the controversial ship or face the consequences! The thought of an exclusive photo sets my heart pounding! We hired a fishing vessel and head for trouble water...

I was prepared for the job, apart from a Nikon F2 with drive; I had with me a compact Nikkor 500 mm "reflex" mirror lens.

I started shooting when Hai Hong came into sight, the 500 mm lens magnified the image TEN fold; only trouble was, it also magnified the up and down motion of the boat... it was like trying to frame and focus on a gyrating see-saw!

I shot and changed film as many time as possible before the marine police saw us!

They did!

Going GREEN!

With over 25% of the population in New Zealand claiming Irish blood - and those with no trace of a drop still claiming the right to be Irish when the green is worn, I got a bit of a shock when I arrived at work yesterday to discover some of my colleagues "turning green"!