It was a joy to just roam around freely in a place that is so familiar to me, and I know the roads and buildings so well that somehow I regretted not spending enough time in Kuching shooting. I think most people know I originated from Kuching and it is quite strange when I tell them that I do not have enough beautiful photographs of my hometown. Indeed I have spent most of my time in Kuala Lumpur since Olympus Malaysia is based there, and whenever I return to my home in Kuching I always decided to leave photography behind so I can spend more time with mum, relatives and friends. After all I do not come home often and there is so much to do and many people to catch up with. However, this one time I was making an exception, I wanted photographs, and I wanted the photographs badly.
Armed with the OM-D E-M1 Mark II and M.Zuiko lenses 7-14mm F2.8 PRO, 25mm F1.2 PRO, and 45mm F1.8, I attacked Kuching streets. My goal was to do my usual street photography shooting, but in Kuching instead of Kuala Lumpur. I did wonder what if I was here shooting for the review of the E-M1 Mark II, the variety of photographs would have been so different. These photographs shown here would have been fit enough to be an extension of the original E-M1 Mark II sample images!
These photographs shown in this blog entry are special to me, as they show my place of birth and where I grew up in. I do not think there is anywhere quite like Kuching. I hope you can enjoy the photographs as much as I have shooting them.
This scene was taken on the 8th floor of a carpark building called Medan Pelita situated opposite the Tua Pek Kong Temple (as seen as the red temple in the image). My secondary school, St Thomas was nearby and we have frequented this location for lunch, or just simply hanging out. There was the Star Cineplex, which was the only one of two go-to cinemas in Kuching back in my younger days, but Star Cineplex is now closed down. This is a classic view of the Kuching city, overlooking the Sarawak River, the Chinese Museam at the waterfront, the Tua Pek Kong temple and a handful of not so tall buildings (these are the only few multistory buildings around). I was lucky to be able to get this shot with dramatic clouds and blue sky as Kuching experiences rain and gloomy weather almost every day.