Marni is "Rejoice" in Hebrew, apparently.

With time running out, it was of utmost importance to be able to spend it with my friend,Marni before she moves to Sweden to live in matrimonial bliss. And to of course, take portraits of her if I could, to which I did.

Bali high.

My time in Bali was amazing. It was only for a weekend and it was with my girlfriends. It was a long awaited trip for us girls, it was our first trip together as a group in almost ten years. We were there specifically for our friend's wedding. It was such a bonding experience and we had such a great time. It was my second time in Bali and not much sightseeing was done cos there was so much going on and its hard to not get distracted by the sometimes funny, running commentary from each girl. We went home feeling sad  that it was over too soon and even almost a week on, we are reeling from bali withdrawals. So much so that we are hell bent on going back before the year is through.

The wedding was held on the beach in Jimbaran which was a 30 minute drive from our villa.  It was such a wonderful location to have the sun set right smack in the middle.

Puddles.

Been under the weather as of late. Few days ago, hours before I caught the bug, I headed out with my friend, Mary to shoot a little. Prior to that day, I had a somewhat haunting dream about this place which involved sideway elevators, an abandoned lot and a ghostly encounter. It was good though that the place was nothing like my dream. It had rained, so puddles became my best friend. I even fit in my panel project.

*image above and below shot with the iphone and edited with vscocam

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Sunday is the new Saturday.

I am always about shooting photographs of my girlfriends as to document all our fun times and I've done so for the past ten years. Last Sunday, we went to scout for a location to do a group photography session for our friend, Marni who's getting married later this year. We got lost and we chased the sun and it was for me a very special moment. We were going one direction but caught a glimpse of the vermillion sky between buildings and then made a turn, stopped the car and I shouted at everyone to get out of the car and stand in place. We did not plan our poses tho, which made for a very messy silhoutte pose below. Alot of girlie screaming and laughter ensued. Fun times.

The above picture, I got my friend Hazmee, who lived nearby to help shoot us. And the below pic, the help of a mini tripod and timer.

Marni's smile.

Hung out with Marni today. She's been pretty smiley lately cos she just got engaged. Top two photos shot with the Ricoh and last shot with the iPhone. 

Ricoh.

A few days ago, I purchased a third hand Ricoh GRD III from a friend. I had been looking for a decent inexpensive compact camera for awhile now. And when I saw that he was selling his for a really good price, I just had to jump on it. My brother had a Ricoh GR few years ago but lost it and I really liked using it then and so I'm pretty glad I have one now. 

I'm not one to get excited every time a new camera model comes out. Someone once said "An expensive camera doesn't make you a good photographer." And neither does owning a DSLR make you a photographer. And for years, even when I had my photography blog (ten years or so ago : quietcore dot org) and shot shows and constantly photographed my friends, or even when I worked as a professional photographer at a studio for 3 years and freelanced for another 5 years, did I ever claim I was good. I shoot what I like and if I like what I see and have shot and post it online and if someone else likes it, then yay to me. I was not so much into the technicality of it. Once, when I had to give a  talk with my fellow photography peers about Music photography, I did say that how I shot sometimes depended on how I felt, it was more an emotional connection for me. When shooting shows, I lived off the energies of the bands. If it was a hardcore or punkrock band, then theres more action and adrenaline to it. Photography to me has always been an outlet of expression and most of all, a means of documenting my life and the people in it. It should be said though that I wouldn't mind a better DSLR, but I like something convenient and easy to carry around which is why I've had the D40 for awhile now, and even better now that I have the Ricoh. 

The picture above was shot last night (June 2, 2013). I was supposed to watching Polyester Embassy from Bandung, Indonesia and got distracted by the lightning.