PHOTOGRAPHY | What is it to me - Eddie Putera After many years dwelling in the world of photography, I cannot avoid to be in direct contact with people in the industry. In the good old days, as many of us would fondly remember, there would be various local photography clubs and society, where people with similar interest shared their passion. Schools build darkrooms and teaches the trade, universities conduct diploma and degree courses to educate people on the subject. As civilisation became more sophisticated, the tradition is carried online in cyber forums and websites. My first experience in the cyber world was during the university days where we have the bulletin board online. Those were the pre internet days and connection was established via dial up modems. There is this Irish guy who had the Canon A1, the hippest Canon camera at that point of time, who had dedicated a phone line to his brand new 386 DX PC running on DOS 6. A couple of guys like me would painstakingly dial his number and establish a chat channel and share photography talks and blethers. Amazingly this ‘ancient’ comms tool had kept us alive and awake until the wee hours during those long cold winter nights. Now PhotoMalaysia had the same effect on me, different time zone, different decade, different methods but similar concept. There was this chap from Kedah, who studied Law and had a place in Gray’s Inn, London. He used to conveniently knock on my doors just before dinner time. He would impose on me to let him share my pot of rice and chicken curry before taking out hordes of magazines and cuttings that had an array of stunning photos. We would spend hours looking at them, trying to guess the exposure settings, trying hard to interpret the stories behind those photos. We would then plan for a weekend shootout, imitating the photos that we liked. Some ended up in trash, some got pinned at the community board at the town hall. Such were the passion and endeavours that were shared. I had my first taste of a group outing when a couple of us with an SLR decided to make a trip to Oxford. The train ride itself was a rewarding experience. I had to constantly remind myself that I had only 5 Rolls of film in the bag and would not be buying more rolls unless, I want to starve myself for the rest of the month. My student allowance was barely enough to feed me let alone fund the hobby I got hooked into. In this digital world, the pain is kind of similar to budding hobbyist. The urge to spend may not be on films but on the plethora of gizmos behind those glittering glass cabinets at Keat Camera and such. We had rifts, we had quarrels and sour faces amongst us at photo clubs and societies. We had differences and ended up as foes, though many had also turned to be our lifelong buddies. We trade used cameras and lenses, we buy and we sell, we make fun of Nikon ( we still do ). Those with expensive Leicas dined at the hip West End pubs whilst the rest of us with plastic rigs had fish and chips at local pubs. Nowadays, we still do that over Teh Tarik at mamak joints. Those were what it was, and what it still is today. Photography is not just about taking pictures. It binds people and sipped into our lives. It became a piece that completes a chapter in our journey and occupies that little corner in our hearts. It causes pain and joy to us all. It gives us that solitary moment we all need to keep us sane amongst the madness of living. It also causes a dent in the wallet but a dent well worth having. Photography is more than that small box that expose lights. It expose the life that we live in, it represent human culture and civilisation. - EP This intellectual property rights belongs to eddieputera and no reproduction or publication in any form is allowed without getting prior consent.
Posted on: Sat, 17 Jan 2015 03:40:34 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015