STORIES, STORIES

A Letter to Humans I need to learn to love myself wherever I may be, any place, any space in time. I need to respect my existence, my spot on earth. To respect the years I've lived and the things that had to happen to me so that time might move forward and life might happen to those that surround me. To respect the Butterfly Effect of All Things. To respect the unpredictability of human existence, and the predictability of THAT. I need to learn to bring closer to myself the things I own, that I've acquired through work – hard or easy – and to understand the beauty of having belongings and belonging to things in return. I need to give credit to the people in my life – the ones who stay even when they don't have to, the ones who left because they just couldn't. The ones that tried to understand my demons and the ones that ran away in terror. The ones that are like me and those that aren't. The bottomless pit of love and goodness that is the human he...

I haven't played with a camera in years. Now that I have the freedom to shoot what and who I want, I don't have my DSLR with me. #Life Couple weeks ago, I went to the Central Market in Kotaraya (Malaysia) with friends, armed with Kathryn's Canon, and did what we would never have been able to do in Jeddah - creep on people and take photos of them.  The trip yielded these. 

I wanted to take pictures of myself (that don't involve a mirror and my camera being in the picture), but I've just realized that I don't own a tripod. In fact, for a photographer, I don't own anything at all.  What is this fail?

I strongly dislike restaurants that have the audacity to be pricey when they have horrible service, horrible food, horrible design, and horrible (lack of) maintenance. I'm looking at you Fratelli . I don't care that people rave about your yummy sheesha (shown below with the legendary pineapple, also known as "cheap theatrics to justify 65 riyals a pop"). I'd just as soon go to Crusty, where at least they are honest about the crappy parts of their restaurant by being inexpensive. Humph. Plus, Crusty has wi-fi. --- Michael in a rare moment of delight. That's delight, isn't it? --- I am currently liking this black-and-white business, as you may have noticed. 

Athr Gallery and Toby by Hatem Alakeel had a silent auction today of pictures donated by photographers here in Jeddah. Proceeds go to the rebuilding of schools badly affected by the recent Jeddah floods. I went to check out Helmy's photos (one of the featured photographers), because I'm a fangirl when it comes to my friends' photography. (Helmy is the guy responsible for my profile picture in this blog.)  Also, I bumped into people I know, because Jeddah is just so friggin' small. I don't know why I'm always shocked when I bump into people when IT ALWAYS HAPPENS. I especially love that it happens on the days I decide not to look my best (which is, really, every day). Anyway, here. Photos in photos. Photo in this photo by Helmy Al-Sagaff.  --- Munch for the noms. (For "ace". Ahem.) --- Photo in this photo by Sina Ata --- Photo in this photo by Sueraya Shaheen (I think. Correct me if I'm wrong.) And here's a video by the awesome...

Sometimes, I take pictures I'm not entirely happy with: settings are wrong, bad exposure, composition and angle sucks, and so on. But every once in a while, one of those bad pictures look good (at least to me) when I look at them long enough. I can't imagine anyone else who would pay for this picture, except for myself. And if you really wanna get all weepy about it, Life itself is like that. You make bad decisions, you do bad things, but sometimes, they turn out alright. You know?

I got inspired to do a little photo editing, something I'm not very open to at the moment, mostly because I don't fully understand how it works. Dee, on the other hand, she of the red hair, inspired me to "paint" MY hair red. I got her to pose for me at lunch today. 

None of the guys could make it to tonight's hangout with Friend of This Blog:  Hning , which was weird because I'm used to having the guys around. But also, it was a nice change. No roughhousing, not much mess, and lots of girly talk. Souma even made Proper Tea. I knooowww I'm gonna have to change lenses (and cameras!) soon if I want to learn more and move on up, but for some reason, I like the limitations of my entry-level and my super slow zoom lens. It pushes me to be more creative (and more frustrated GRR). Or maybe I'm just a sissy and I'm scared of moving on to bigger, better things. Whatevs.

This is what happens when you own a DSLR and you don't check your settings before you shoot like you're supposed to do. Yes, after several years of owning one and learning how to use it, I still sometimes think it's a point-and-shoot. I call it Character.  Speaking of character, I attempted (AGAIN) to change my character by changing my hair color. No, I never learn. I have horrible memory, and I always forget the fact that my hair isn't change-friendly. I'd go on about this, except I'm actually liking my mismatched hair color. Convention can kiss my Pinoy ass. I whip my hair back and forth. In other news, you know what sucks about migraines? The fact that they even exist and occur at all.

You live in Jeddah and you've never been to American Corner? GET OUT. GET OOUUTT!! EVERYONE in Jeddah goes to American Corner. Or has, at one point. And they keep going back. It's because of their cheap, ordinary food. The dark, dingy interior. That funny smell. The sticky tables. The slow and sometimes horrible service. And how close the seats and tables are to each other. And how crowded it gets. And how you always bump into someone you know when you go there.  It's the anti-Jeddah. I love it. I'm still using the fast lens. I still can't make it do what I want it to do. But I won't give up. I will work hard to understand it, and I will study settings and the way it works and see if we can compromise and make this work. Things are blurry, dark and bleak, but I will find a way to make things clear. In short, the fast lens is a man. *cue creepy music*

Here are visual representations of my shaky, unstable relationship with my shutter speed. (*snort, snort* Geddit? Geddit?) I recorded a few of my friends for the podcast , and even though I know it's bad manners to be doing something else (such as taking pictures) while people are talking to me, I did anyway. Because I am without manners. This is Suhail talking about his experiences in Sendai. Stay tuned!

Take Earth Hour one step further. Yes, you're just one person, and you think whatever you do won't make a difference to make this world a better place to live in, but that's not entirely true. We have to do what we can, no matter how small or insignificant it feels.  Small things make a difference. Limit plastic consumption. Don't waste water. Turn off electricity and lights that aren't being used. Don't buy things you don't need. Earth Hour every year is a great reminder. Also, it's a good excuse to get together with friends and discuss its significance. Tonight, we went to Il Villagio on Andalus. They've supported Earth Hour for a few years now, and again this year with a special Earth Hour menu. At 8:30pm, they turned off all the lights and the patrons had candlelit dinners.  It was nice weather, great bread, and great company. Especially since Suhail is back from Sendai, Japan, and he's fine, alhamdulillah. Because it was dark, and night ...