The Chinese New Year 2018 That Was

This year, my family and I celebrated the festive season with a low key. No bombastic decorations, no extensive food preparations, no buying new cloths, and basically nothing much was done. What I did was to spend as much time as I could with mum, and whatever time left, I allocated for some close friends. It was interesting because as I grew older, the less excitement I felt for Chinese New Year. Perhaps that was because I was never a fan of explosive firecrackers, dramatic lion dance and unbearably loud Chinese New Year songs. Red is not even my favourite color.

Kieron Long, an up and coming street photographer from Kuching. My partner in crime in one of my recent shutter therapy sessions in Kuching. 

I did squeeze some time out of the mornings for shutter therapy. I have got a good collection of images which will be shared over at Ming Thein's site. Street shooting at Kuching has always been super fun. 

Initially I did not plan to shoot that much but one new acquaintance that I have made recently boldly requested for a street shooting session, well knowing everyone was busy during the coming celebration. Miraculously I managed to pull a few people together. Now here is the unexpected turn of events, the person who called for street shooting decided to ignore my texts and gentle reminders of the shooting session that I specifically organized for. That person was a no show. The shutter therapy went on regardless, but I would expect at least an apology (which never came), and being stood up just before Chinese New Year was not fun at all. 

I will have to be more selective of who I shoot on the streets with from now on. 

I have my usual street kaki Jee Foong (who made the awesome camera straps that I blogged about in the previous entry) to thank for accompanying me to my street hunts. Also, I got the chance to know an incredibly talented Kieron Long who has been roaming the streets of Kuching shooting while enjoying a few bowls of Kolo Mee along the way. Who can say no to Kolo Mee, right? 

3rd Day Open House at Anna Bella Wong's place. Anna, if you are reading this, PLEASE GET YOUR BLOG BACK ONLINE ASAP. 

There was an impromptu gathering at Anna's house (which I found out was so close to where I stay in Kuching). The above image was a super interesting one, and surely brought back a lot of memories. A lot of you may not know that almost everyone in the photograph was once a Kuching blogger. We were all friends under one common platform: blogging, and we mostly met over meet-ups and blogger gatherings. We have stayed friends over more than 10 years now since we all first met, and it was incredible seeing everyone again in one room. Not all maintained their blogs (some have been shut down) but it was great catching up with people who were there right at the beginning of this blog. This was an era way before I started being so obsessed with photography, even before I got my first Olympus DSLR. 

I spent about a little over a week in my hometown, Kuching. I could not have wished for a better celebration. It was quiet, relaxing and spent over lengthy deep conversations, just the way I liked it.