I am an avid photographer with deep passion in social, travel and documentary photography, on aspects of the people and their environment. Photography is my chosen medium to express my passion, and that passion stems from a long time ago memory of my old grandfather, a Chinese Migrant to Malaya then during World War 2, who worked as a goldsmith in a dimly lit area.
It is that memory that have pushed me looking for hidden gems in cities or the outskirts. And it is with hope that my passion are able to be shared among the world.
My first project when I started photography in 2008 was to document a day in the life of an old lady who happens to be the few remaining first generation Chinese migrants to Malaysia, and that project, titled “Living Alone In Contemporary Malaysia” was the stepping stone to my other projects, taking a series of the people I met and the establishments/environment that they live in. I believe a series tells more stories and gives an inside depth of any projects that we are undertaking.
The next project, also in 2008, was a portfolio on the oldest Chinese restaurant in Kuala Lumpur, where the second generation of the people who runs this establishment will be the final ones, as the third generation has decided to venture out in the modern corporate world. These two projects will be a historical documentation in the future, and gives an insight world on how life used to be now when the future generation views them.
Thereafter, most of my photography centered along travel portfolios till 2013, when I started to lean back to social documentary portfolios. Having evolved from taking travel portfolios, I am now venturing into contemporary photography, an area that I am very much interested in, and have begun learning on the how and why of contemporary. It is a different area of photography that I have begun to love, and feels for. One of the first project was on The Shipyard Workers of Dhaka, taken in 2014 on a solo sojourn to Bangladesh and Kolkata, spanning a total of 10 days.
Currently, I have started on a project taking contemporary environmental portraits of my home country, Malaysia, and having just started a week ago, I find it rather addictive, and will be doing this for the coming months. This project is what I have always believed in, that the most beautiful and meaningful images are always the ones closest to your doorstep, your home and your heart.
After winning the Low Light Category in the recent Sony World Photography Competition 2015, Sony Malaysia has appointed me as their Malaysia Alpha Photographer, promoting their Alpha range of cameras and lenses. I am deeply honoured with this appointment and would like to thank Sony Asia Pacific for the trust given.
To me photography is just a bridge to the inner lives of the people we meet. The world that we live in are vast and very much alive, with different cultures and traditions that we may glance through in our daily walk, but which we tend to just pass by. I have been very much privileged to have been allowed a moment into the lives of the people I meet, the very same people like you and me, and to have their respect in return to the respect that I have for them. it is the silent flutters of their inner beings that I have been allowed a glimpse into, and that is what motivates me. [Official Website]
