English Cocker Spaniel

A few days ago, I had an opportunity to photograph a friend's English Cocker Spaniel. It proved to be very interesting shoot indeed. I had my backdrop set up, props in place..now only one thing remains, to place the dog on in front of the white backdrop. It proved to be quite a challenge as all he wanted to do was to play and run around the garden but as you can see, he did finally decide to pose (with a little help from the owner) against a white backdrop. 

He just didn't  care and all he wanted to do was to play with the ball. So, I gave up on the backdrop and started taking photos around the garden. That made it a little easier to take the shots although not too easy. 

Eventually, after running after the ball, he decided to strike a pose. Lucky me.

Getting him to smell the flower involves two people. One to photograph, one to entice. And he needed lots of enticement! 

A great shot of him, resting after a long day. It was a very hot day for all of us.

He was such a great dog, nothing could distract him from squirrels from the garden. Not even a stuff toy on his back!

It was a good day. Yes it was hot, and it was especially hot for the Spaniel. He kept running back into the house and having lots of water. However, he kept returning to the garden, looking for squirrels. The shoot proved to be successful and thank you my friend for allowing me to take photos of your little one. 

These are only some of the shots I took on that day. There was a total of 111 shots. I can't possibly put in 111 shots in my blog. So I hope you enjoy looking at the shots as I enjoyed taking them. As a final photo, here he's smelling the flower. :) Finally. Till my next photo shoot, have a good day everyone!

2nd World Belly Dance Day

It was the 8th October 2011, it's the 2nd Tribal Belly Dance day organized by Aiza and Zoe. It was the day that all bellydancers were looking forward to. After weeks of practise, they get to show off their movements and choreography. The beginning, the MC introduced Zoe and Aiza on stage and a small welcome speech was made by Zoe as Aiza had lost her voice due to perhaps too much stress. Followed by a demonstration by Aiza on tribal bellydance and a narration of it.

Then a fun began for all performers. There were, definitely tribal bellydance, flamenco fusion bellydance by Sherlyn Koh, bollywood fusion bellydance by Sirroco Dance, the cane dance and the combination of sword and veil dance.

Here students from belly dance schools took the opportunity to perform their dances. After weeks of practise, hours in the dance studio floor, this was the chance to show off their belly shaking moves and of course their costumes. Colours that ranged from white, black, red, green filled the room and allowed the audience to feast on the colours and moves of the dancers.

There the cane dance performed by Sirroco Secrets Dance school. They showed their skills on handling the cane while dancing. It takes skill to swing those canes.

The Bollywood Fusion bellydance was an interesting mixture of bollywood dance and bellydance. The costumes were colourful, the dance vibrant and the crowd loved it!

There were children that dance and thrill the audience! Ah such a refreshing change.

Eager to show off her skills in undulation or stomach rolls.

Then there was flamenco fusion..where a mixture of flamenco dance and bellydance performed by Sherlyn Koh, the director of Sirroco Secrets Dance. The fluidity of the dance, the music, was just breathtaking to watch.

She is barely 10..I think she's only around 9 years old and such skills for a 9 year old.

Everyone had fun that day. The audience enjoyed it, the dancers enjoyed performing and I think a little relief that the day was finally over. Now they can take a rest until the next rehersals for the next performance!

Be kind

Being kind to yourself does not mean doing things for others. Nor does it mean you become a 'yes' person. In this cruel world, there are many who will take advantage of your kind heart. You know the saying, give them an inch they want a yard! Or something like that. I have a big heart. I am giving and often find myself in situations that I find upsetting. I am kind and generous to others but there comes a point when I need to take a step back and reflect. If I do all this, what becomes of me? If I follow what others want, I will eventually loose myself. The conclusion I came to was, I wasn't being kind to me.

Be kind to yourself,
Be gentle with yourself,
Praise yourself and give a gentle pat to yourself,
Love yourself,
Those that are not meant to stay in your life will disappear,
Do not regret for those who do not stay
The ones that remain are the ones you should treasure,
The lessons you learn whether good or bad, are blessings
Accept them, welcome them,
And you'll be surprise what comes into your life.

Spanish National Day @La Bodega, Bangsar KL

Aiza the fire breather!

It was wednesday 6 pm and I was invited by Aiza to take photographs for the day. Zoe's and Aiza's act "Playing with fire". Now that peak my interest. So, off I went to La bodega in Telawi Bangsar to see what this fire breathing event was. I found out it was the Spanish National Day. There was one or two games booth set up outside of La Bodega. The dining tables and chairs were put outside on the side lane so that patrons can sit and order, a selection of drinks and I think there was a buffet. 

I sought out Aiza and Zoe who was  preparing above La Bodega @ Ozmosis. It was an interesting night and a challenge to take photos on the day. The photos I took on the day was without flash. I increased my ISO to the highest because with no flash, I had no choice. 

My sister

It will be almost a year next month since my sister's passing. I wonder which is worse, to lose someone suddenly or to watch someone fighting for their life and losing the battle. I have been through both in my lifetime. My mother who passed away suddenly when I was in the UK 11 years ago and my sister who fought for her life last year. What I miss the most about my mother was how I will miss the time we spent together, regrets for not being with her more often..but since then, I don't view my mother in sadness anymore or self-pity, I think about my mother and I'm thankful for all the wonderful years I had with her. I'm glad she went so quickly without any pain.

This blog is about my sister. Lately I've been thinking a lot about her. Maybe it is because her one year anniversary is coming up. When she found out her cancer had come back, she fought. We had all hope that she would overcome this disease again but alas, it wasn't to be. For 2 years she struggle. It had come back in her lungs, then spread to her brain and spine. So at first she was losing balance walking, so she bought a walker for balance, then it came to a point that she couldn't walk anymore. She had to be wheelchair bound. It was at this point, her weight started to drop. By the time she became bed bound because she couldn't move her legs anymore (the cancer had hit her spinal cord), she was nothing more then skin and bones. All this while watching her waste away, feeling so helpless as nothing could be done. My once talkative sister, who was always opinionated struggled to even talk. As her health deteriorated, she became weaker until one day she started coughing up blood, not any blood, blood clots. Her kidneys was failing and her body was shutting down. She couldn't move in bed so she had to be turned to her sides every so often. She developed bed sores, the holes were so big you could put your fist in it and even see her bone. Every time spent with her was a blessing but I knew the day would come when I had to say goodbye. She knew that too. But I still hoped somehow that a miracle would happen and that she'll get up from bed and say 'I'm cured!'.

To lose some that way, to watch her waste away, my only sister leaves a mark. It makes me appreciate what I have, who I am. So whenever I hear someone say they are fat, it leaves me a little frustrated and upset because I remember how much my sister struggle to gain her weight back but her cancer kept winning. It is worse to watch someone die slowly because the memories stay on. However on saying that, the lesson learned is a precious one.

Live Life To the Fullest. Appreciate what you have, be happy with who you are physically and if you're not, do something about it. After all, we do not know what tomorrow will bring or if there is a tomorrow.

My sister and I on her 40th birthday

On her 42nd and last birthday

Experimenting with props

Yesterday in my moment of enthusiasm, I went to ikea and bought a whole bunch of things. Things I could use for a photograph session with pets. The most important was to acquire some throws of various colours to create a backdrop. Today I went to buy a backdrop stand, however, the shop was out of stock so I had to think of a different way in which to create my backdrop. It somewhat was a success although taking photographs of the dogs, and they were my pets proved to be a little bit challenging but rewarding. Here are some of the shots I took.

QISMAT

Belly Dancing for El Malik

BAGHDAD!

Yesterday I went to the Temple of Fine Arts to support my friend's new play called Qismat! It was an amazing play and I thoroughly enjoyed it from beginning til the end. The variety of expressions portrayed in the actors and actresses faces, the multifaceted roles they had to take on, and being able to turn on and off as needed. Truly these are very gifted and talented kids and young adults. The lighting proved to be very difficult in terms of taking photographs but it wasn't impossible. These were the few shots taken from that night.