ROBIN WONG : Chill PhotoWalk With Syazwan & Aril

It was one fine Sunday that I caught up with Syazwan, a photographer in Kuala Lumpur whom I have not seen for several years. He asked for a photowalk so of course, as always I said yes! We went around town, Petaling Street area which is very central to Kuala Lumpur. I did have something in mind to do, I wanted to do a POV style street photography video for my main YouTube channel. However I woke up at the wrong side of the bed and feeling a little cranky, so I decided to scrap the idea of doing a video for the main channel and made it into a vlog instead. Instead of doing a POV style video, I vlogged about where we went, a bit of our conversations, and pieces of the shutter therapy session.

You can find the vlog of this photowalk session here (click for video)

Image by Syazwan Basri (IG @syazbasri) used with permission

I brought along my Canon full frame for this session, because I know Syazwan is currently using a Canon full frame system (I just found out he has upgraded to Canon R6). I did not have anything specific to achieve during the outing, just shooting at anything that caught my attention, or something I found interesting. The light was not too bad for this session, but nothing outstanding either, the intermittent clouds came in and out obscuring precious morning light that could have made the scene a lot more glorious to shoot. Nevertheless, for photowalks like these, it is not just about shooting, but the company that matters. If I were serious about getting shots, or need to get some work done, I would have gone out shooting solo and made sure I spend my time time efficiently. Sometimes, having another friend laugh at you while you pet the cat makes all the difference! No Syazwan did not laugh at me, but he did take some shots of me shooting the cat and it was hillarious seeing myself in action.

I also took this opportunity to get Syazwan to shoot some portraits of myself. I don't wear red at all for any street photography sessions, this was a one time exception. It was Chinese New Year and red was an auspicious color for us, so it was definitely a good choice to usher in more good fortune for the year. Of course, any sane street photographers would scoff at my bright intimidating choice of outfit. My usual attire would be a lot more monochromatic, typically grey-ish, or black or anything darker in shades. Even my work attire when I am shooting for a job, I would mostly wear black or dark cloths. I guess it is a norm for us photographers to choose darker wear. But the red was certainly fun and I realized a bit too late that the shirt was probably under-sized due to me putting on quite a bit of weight over the past few months. Who cares, really?

Here are some of my shots, taken with my Canon 5D original. Hope you enjoy the shots!