I stumbled upon this particular poem of Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi’s while I was struggling to understand the existing and the departing of certain people around me. Sharing it here with y’alls.
The Guest House
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
As an unexpected visitor.Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
~ Rumi
We are bombarded with all kind of emotions or thought daily … at least I am. A good reminder to a stray soul like mine … beautifully written indeed.
As I strolled through my photo collections, I felt like sharing these photos of a very patient Quran teacher that I saw at Jami Masjid, Agra, India. Why did I thought that he was a patient teacher?
A humble place to learn to read the beautiful Quran
I was watching him while he was teaching.
His voice was calm and soft towards his student. And … my friends and I … strangers with cameras clicking around him doesn’t annoyed him at all.
I was comparing this situation back home in Malaysia whereby …certain people, especially those who has certain level of religious knowledge more than the average, would easily get agitated with strangers ( I am being carefully polite here).
But … yeah, I might be wrong though.
Another shoot from above. A nice warm feeling whenever I looked at this photo
It’s hot and hazy here in Kuala Lumpur. Feels like staying indoor 24×7.
A good reason to start preparing myself for my next gateway. Emptying my expectation and straightening my judgemental mind. A blank canvas could be a canvas full of possibilities … right?
Bye
Cheers
MM
p.s – Learning to be at peace with myself. Oh Allah … please be gentle with me and never leave me alone unattended by You. Indeed oh Allah … You are the best Protector and the best Helpers
I am in a very productive and ambitious mood this few days ;-P and I am not very sure on how long will it last hu hu hu. I did an extensive housekeeping and re-organisation on all my external HDs … yeay! for me. I edited some of my old and forgotten image folders.
Sharing with y’alls my Wayang Kulit Kelantan aka Traditional Shadow Puppet show images from a few months back. I wanted to explore more on my local culture this year, so I signed up for any cultural performance or any local art gallery around town.
Uncle google has the detail explanation on what is Wayang Kulit Kelantan or Traditional Kelantanese Shadow Puppet show. My late father never failed to remind the ‘rebel’ me that I am a Kelantanese. He would force me to watch and listen to Mak Yong (traditional Kelantanese dance) and wayang kulit. So, watching this group of street Wayang Kulit performers performing the shadow play at Jalan Pudu, Kuala Lumpur recently, did bring back the sweet memories of my childhood.
Back stage preparation before the show beginThe show is accompanied by a group of traditional musician playing gongs, barrel drums, cymbals and flutes. The puppet master is called Tok DalangThe story was mostly about an ancient epic story from India called Ramayana
Well … my D800 never failed to impress me. In such a low light … I managed to capture the ambience moment behind the stage. I was telling my photographer friend about the stages that we had been through during our photography journey.
I started with just clicking my camera on auto mode. Then I move up further by capturing high key images on manual and aperture mode. At that time, every image should look bright and clear, as bright as possible. Dark and shadow was a no … no. Then, I was crazy about IR images (infra red) … playing on contra and false/ fantasy colours. And …. now I am all crazy about dark, shadow, chiaroscuro, emotion and all those fine art things … a continuous learning process.
bla … bla … bla … babbling. Gotta run now … I need to edit another old image folder of Kuda Kepang dance that I took last year and some more old folders before my next trip.
I have been reading quite extensively this past few weeks. Upscaling my photography technical knowledge … to be able me to teach (yes! teach … I, myself am surprised too) a Basic Photography Class for a small crowd of students last few weekends. My first teaching stint aka my excuse to learn from my observers.
A good thing that I decided to do this as I found a strong excuse to refresh and brush up my camera and composition knowledge. So … I have been reading more than usual too.
Sharing with y’all an interesting write-up on street photography that I am currently trying to digest:
Street photography is always my first choice of photography. Being a curious cat since as long as I can remember helps me to enjoy street photography more than any other photography genre that I have tried.
Being curious on the street with strangers from all sort of background makes the process of meeting new people kind of adventurous to me. Like a child mind … everything and everyone looks trust worthy in my eyes. But often enough I have to restrain myself from being too curious or too friendly with my subject knowing that every culture has its own social restrictions that I need to be well aware of.
Saw these hobbyist fisherman and woman at the Pedu Lake jetty
Feeling happy with their catch of the day
I am fishing too … fishing stories with my gopro pole hu hu hu
Feeling curious with these ladies while I was hanging out at the Lake Pedu jetty
p.s – pics of me being curious with these fisherman and fisherwoman at the Pedu Lake jetty
Yep, curiosity killed a cat for sure (my cat lol). Encountered an uncomfortable aka social resistance aka an awkward situation recently, that put me down for a few days too. But nonetheless being an optimistic bitch … my eight (8) other cat lives were struggling up to gasp for oxygen at no time … alhamdullilah.
Maybe a platonic relationship between man and woman will never exist in the world of pessimist. A curious mind of a woman in the world of pessimist belongs to a slut or a husband snatcher huh wth. I am blessed that I lived in the world of optimist … sayonara to the pessimist, I am off to explore more of this part of the world.
Taking my time-off at my favourite spot at Seri Mahawangsa BoatHouse, Lake Pedu, Kedah
Well … I decided to join my photographer friend for a short trip to Kedah, Malaysia for a quick stress reliever. I took an early train (ETS KTM train) from Kuala Lumpur to Anak Bukit, Kedah. Slept one night at my friend’s house in Jitra, Kedah and spent another night at Seri Mahawangsa BoatHouse, Lake Pedu, Kedah. Then … I took an afternoon train back to KL again.
Our lunch before we headed to Lake Pedu, KedahI got to shoot the full moonAnd, I got to shoot the morning sunrise tooAnd, I snooped around and shoot the lovebird
And this was how I spent my time at the Seri Mahawangsa BoatHouse, Pedu Lake, Kedah. Ahhh … a simple mind and a simple life …nothing more.
“People call me a perfectionist, but I’m not. I’m a rightist. I do something until it’s right, and then I move on to the next thing” ~ James Cameron
I kinda like this quote … and yes, I am a rightist for sure 🙂 . An attempt to explain my super slow reaction on each job that require my thinking hat. Yeah … and I am blunt if I didn’t have my thinking hat on.
Alamak! (oh my!) … and I have not posted any new entry since November 2015, which was last year. Last year sounds like a long months ago. Happy New Year 2016 to all my readers and to my followers (small group of followers coz I am too shy to market myself lol), thank you for putting that extra effort to follow my writing aka babbling. I feel honored … thank you.
I fulfilled at least 1/3 of my last year 2015 New Year resolution (… I shall think so 🙂 ). And … I don’t have any new additional resolution for 2016. Thinking of not having any new year resolution this year … maybe I will let my options stay open and just follow my heart.
What was I doing in the past few months that kept me locked up in my own cave? I wonder too or must be that laziness syndrome again … I need to write often as the more I write … the more I read.
I settled down (not so peacefully) in my new home in mid November, traveled to Nepal in early December, flew around Cyberjaya and Kundang air space with my paramotor buddies during my free weekends, traveled to Krabi, Thailand via train/ van in early this month and now I am packing up my gears again for my next weekend gateway to Pedu Lake, Kedah, Malaysia.
My Nepal trip was very different and interesting at the same time. Giving me the urges to keep on coming back to Nepal. I will share more about my Nepal trip once I am properly settled with my new office and my new studio. Yes … I am having my own creative space now … uhh and am super nervous and excited about this too.
Sharing with y’all my moment with my new friend Nima that I met on my way back from Pokhara to Kathmandu, Nepal. Saw him at one of the street side coffee shop on our tea break and I decided to approach him for a quick street shoot. His beautiful “sad look” caught my eyes … and he had a cultural shocked too (I bet!), seeing a daring blunt woman wanting to photograph him lol.
The thing that I love about street photography is … meeting up with beautiful strangers on the street. Beauty is very subjective though. Beauty in my eyes will not necessarily a joy to your eyes.
I am so hooked up with faces now a days. Maybe this is just a phase …
Me and my ‘A Hamar tribe of Ethiopia’ photo ~ photo credit to hana_mujahidah
There is always a first time to everything … and, this is my first time joining a photo exhibition.
It is an honor to be selected as one of Yaman Ibrahim & his Mutual Friends #Kolektif 1 photo contributor. Yaman Ibrahim is a very talented and famous photographer here in Malaysia. A simple, humble and down-to-earth artist that I find easy to work with. 28 photographers (from Malaysia and Brunei) exhibited 78 pieces of travel photograph around the world during the exhibition period. Do come and have a look at our photos on display at MaTIC Kuala Lumpur. Admission is free.
Detail information about the photography exhibition:
Event: Yaman Ibrahim & his Mutual Friends #Kolektif 1
Location: Matic Art Gallery, MaTIC Malaysia Tourist Center, Kuala Lumpur
Date: 3rd September 2015 to 30th September 2015
Honestly, I felt weird seeing my own photos on display and a bit awkward when people start to ask questions. Reason being … when I shoot my photos I was totally in my selfish mode. I love the moment and I wanted to capture and keep the moment to myself. I want to look at my photos and be reminded of the feelings that I had while capturing those moments. And this is totally new to me …well, there is always a first time to anything, right?
But, seeing it being printed and hang-up on the wall triggered an excitement in me. I want to have more and more of my photos printed out on beautiful papers for my personal keeping or maybe once a while I want to share it with public through photo art galleries. I want to be an artistic photographer … a fine-art photographer maybe. Hmm what a dream huh?
And, these are my photos exhibited during the photo exhibition.
A Hamar tribe family – Ethiopia, Africa
I choose my man – Ethiopia, 2013
Churches of Lalibella – Ethiopia, 2014
A believer at Chakpori Hill temple – Lhasa, Tibet
Under the gingko tree – Sensoji Temple, Tokyo
A home – Tanggula Mountain Pass, Tibet
I learned a lot from this experience and I need to reassess my photography direction … again and again. So much to learn, so little time.
Ok. I gotta go now. Need to pack my gears (and my crazy COURAGE) for my next adventure 😛 , a cross-country (xc) expedition via paramotor ride from Tok Bali, Kuala Besut, Terengganu to Batu Buruk beach, Kuala Terengganu. It is going to be a long ride … will update the outcome here for sure. Bye now ….
Cheers
MM
p/s Credit: The IG photo of me and my ‘A Hamar tribe of Ethiopia’ photo is from hana_mujahidah Instagram account
MATSUDA MASHIMARU 