Category: nature

Mabul Island, Sabah

Ahh! It’s been a while. Just a month ago, I graduated highschool. Since then I’ve been busy travelling, catching up on reading and deeply overthinking about my future. As you know by now, my post excerpts are often unrelated to the post itself. This blog is indeed a photo blog but I have to let you know that I have always been more interested in writing. In fact, I joined my school’s editorial board as a writer hoping to gain knowledge that would spur me on to achieve my dream of becoming a journalist. To my surprise, there and then was where I discovered my interest in photography too! After that, I decided that I wanted to be a photojournalist.

This leads us to the birth of this blog! It’s my virtual photography portfolio. When I took up journalling in December of 2020, I also began to enjoy writing in everything I did. I even started to enjoy writing 6 page school essays about how to encourage students to read. That’s when I decided to leave little pieces of myself whenever I wrote and that made this blog a lot more personal to me. I have so many thoughts and it’s much easier to organise my headspace when I put them into eligible words. Here I try to share the things that I hope you find relatable.

It feels good to know that I put my writing out there. I used to write short stories and I’ve made many attempts at participating in writing competitions. For the past two years, I’ve been on and off writing a novel. This slow pace frustrates me and I feel discouraged. “What if I never fulfill my childhood dream of publishing something for the world to read?” So here we have this blog, my hope! The little paragraphs I write here remind me that I’ve still got it in me. I love writing and no matter what I write it is of importance. A small step is better than no movement at all. Do wish me luck as I continue this writing journey and thank you for being here 🙂

Taiping

Taiping Lake Gardens, Perak, Malaysia felt like the most beautiful place on Earth for me. It was the perfect evening. Not too hot, not too crowded. I was surrounded with wonderful company and was kept busy cycling. The 45 minute drive to and from was lovely. The scenery on this highway is said to be the most beautiful of the North-South Expressway.

dec.

This was taken during my birthday trip during the end of October. It seems like such a short while ago. Right after this trip, church reopened, school -in-person began again and life seemed to resume as normal. I got caught up in the busy-ness of it all. Here we stand at the last month of 2021. Spotify wrapped is released, Christmas trees are put up, end year examinations begin and flight tickets to home are bought. Yet, it’s too soon for me to begin to re-evaluate my 2021 and plan my 2022 resolutions.

5 weeks left. Here’s to making the most of it.

3 years

Whoa! Just as I planned to update today, I received a notification that today marks my third year anniversary on WordPress! It’s been quite a journey. Blogging for me began as a trend. My two close friends started posting and that inspired me to have a voice as well! However, at age 13 I didn’t have much to say as I was still figuring myself out. My first two blogs were named after milkshakes and scents and had nothing to do with either of those things. I wrote about the most random of things from travel tips to new recipes.

Now as I look back, I’m so grateful to see physical evidence of how much I’ve grown. I started this when I was just entering the teenage phase and here I stand nearly at adulthood. I can definitely say that I’ve found myself.

Photography for me began on a whim. I joined my school’s Editorial Board because I liked to write and found myself taking an interest in photography. It started when I touched a camera for the first time, my dad’s Nikon D350, to take photos on Sport’s Day when there was a shortage of photographers. Even now, I’m one of the very few photographers n school. 13 year old me would have never imagined that I would become president of the Photography Club (newly formed this year!) in school.

To future me, at 17 I see how far I’ve come from 13. I know you’ll see me and feel the same. Life moves pretty fast so don’t forget to take a step back and take a pic to remember.

blue seas blue sky

Another weekend getaway. This time to my favourite place on the coast. Everything seems brighter under the sun. Colours, feelings. The slight price of added melanin is worth it to spend a few hours bobbing in the ocean.

As someone who doesn’t like in their hometown, it’s places like these that make living away from family okay. I feel so grateful that I’ve gotten to experience so much even though I’m as young as I am. I read once that God made places like this to give us a glimpse of paradise on earth. I’m sure paradise above would be so much greater.

it’s in the details

Took this quick snap during a morning walk last week. I went away for my birthday weekend to Kundasang. The cooling atmosphere was refreshing after a whole week of heat in KK city.

With some fine tuning via lightroom, here’s the outcome of this photo.