Super sisters

Suzi, Sophie

Originally uploaded by Rajah Brooke

Having a sister is like having a best friend you can’t get rid of. You know whatever you do, they’ll still be there. ~Amy Li

Friends of ours came to visit us last weekend! They are sisters…can’t you guess! LOL

Sleeping beauty

Love must be as much a light, as it is a flame. ~Henry David Thoreau

This was one of my earliest photo of Bindy. She was just 2 weeks old when I took this photo. It was on the bed. And this was also the time when I started to really enjoy taking her photos and photo journaling my experience with her. I guess before this, I was still getting used to the cries and burps and wee and poos and the general tiredness from lack of sleep! But oh, how wonderful it is to have experienced all that and how satisfying it is to be a mom!

Today, she’s a happy, bubbly 15 month old and all she needs is to give you one smile to melt any ‘no’s!

My little peach

Is there ever a moment when I don’t want to spend time with you? Even now, when you’re asleep on your little bed, I tell myself,’ Stay still, be quiet and let her be. She needs the sleep.’ LOL my little peach, my sweet Bindy. I just want to cuddle cuddle cuddle you ! LOL

"Children are the bridge to heaven" ~ Persian proverb

Bario: Art in the middle of Borneo

Well, this month has been full of travels. 3 fantastic location in 28 days with Bindy in tow is amazing in my books!!! I’ve yet had time to log the trips on top of some of the photo assignments that I am currently working on. Bario has been rather special to me, having been there a number of times but many many years ago, it was nice meeting the people that I knew then and remembering those days with the ‘guys’, trekking through the jungle and always looking out for leaches crawling up my leggings and at the end of the day, a nice hot meal all from the jungle cooked up in bamboo over fire. I must say things are a lot different now. The long houses I used to trek for hours can now be reached in less then an hour, an hour at most. Its a little sad because I think part of the trip is about the walking and isolation. I went there 8-9 years because of it, the promise of an adventure! Today, new roads are being built and the jungle are being opened up and a mobile phone tower was recently set up and an astro dish is perched by the side of roofs. Nevertheless, it is still … Bario.

This trip, we found a lovely little home stay. There were plenty of homestays in Bario but this one offered something different. It is also an Art gallery! yes! An art Gallery! The artist is Steven Baya. I will upload more photos of my little adventures but today, I’ve got just about these to share….

His art gallery/homestay is about 30 mins walk from the airport or 10 minutes by 4wd. You can show up at the airport and ask for a ride. FYI its not a taxi, its a ride from a private car owner.

the sitting/dinning room is an open veranda and is full of his work. some are in progress, some on the wall are for sale while others like this one is part of his wall!

this one was by the sitting area where the rooms are. There are 4 rooms, 2 with double beds and 2 with 2 singles. No cots so Bindy slept in the middle or like us, push the bed to one side.p/s lights on from 6.30 to 9.30pm only!

that's the door you enter through! isn't it pretty! its full of paintings. Its not the regular run of the mill homestay because you'll be staying with an artist! watch out for his paint brushes, they are every where too!

I might be biased but I think Bindy enjoyed it too! Rolling on the floor, they had mats on them and Bindy loved it.

That’s all I have time for today. I’ll upload more Bario photos as soon as they are ready! I did upload them in my flickr as well. But watch out for part 2.

Panaga Beach BBQ

A month ago I was invited to Brunei to photograph the beach BBQ organised by the Panaga Mums and Tots. I arrived, the sun tucked it self behind a cloud and in the middle of the beach was a Christmas tree! It went on for just over 2 hours with over 30-40 kids. yes. that many with so little time!!! normally i would take almost an hour and a half to photograph a single child, maybe two. LOL! There’s always a first!

I’ve learned that it is so important to keep a visual recognition of the children around you. Or you might end up photographing the same child or two over and over again because one single moment/snapshot is never enough for a child with so much energy and imagination! That’s what I love, I love the flow of imagination from these kids as I keep wondering what will happen next, what is he thinking about, what is he feeling. And that is also my problem, I look for the stories. Its a problem because in an event like this with so little time and so big a place (the beach!!!), you can get sucked into just the few kids that somehow caught your attention from the beginning because perhaps of the color of their clothes or a smile or just a twinkle in the eye that says ‘look at me-me-me’!

There’s a lot of learning points here and I must thank the group for inviting me!

Flickr and WordPress photos : they look different!

There is a difference , right??

Well, now I know. But I never did realise this until a couple of weeks ago, am i uploading my photos wrong in WP or is it just incapable of projecting a better resolution in WP? This photo is taken from an event I was invited to last month. I was about to post it up until I noticed it was rather blurr, in fact downright horrid. the photos in the ‘new post’ windows look ok but when I upload it to the site, it looks dark, flat..well, just different. I’m no expert in all things webbie, so I look for things that are easy and blogging like this is easy. I blog some of my favorites by uploading a couple of images onto WP and upload a flash file under galleries for the full set. The galleries seem to be ok but if the photos in WP come out not quite right, I might need to have a different strategy! hmm…

Uploaded directly from pc

Linked url from my Flickr account

The best assistant in the world!!!

Yes-sir-ree! She’s the best assistant in the world because she never loses my lens cover…I could always find it in her mouth!!! She is quickly approaching 14 months, walks everywhere and just refuses to be carried along now. And I love her! muaaahks!

Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you. ~Nathaniel Hawthorne

A smile is a curve that sets everything straight!

S stands for serenity…

A baby changes people. I know…mine certainly changed me! And I see it in all of my friends and families. Most of the time for the better…but its always tricky because sometimes, when we’re busy enveloping the new born with love and care, we forget to do the same to ourselves. And we begin to define who we are based around the baby. Nothing wrong with that I suppose but every now and then, I look back at my old journals and remember how it was before. The old pictures and the old dreams. Some dreams still persist, while others I just laugh..hah I once wrote I wanted to be an archeologist like Indiana Jones!

Baby S is my first attempt at a newborn. I can’t help to wonder the life she will be living, in my life time, the Berlin wall was torn down, 911 happened, tsunami is a word that pops up regularly, mobile phones are common, tvs are thin, Micheal Jackson died, Astro, Iraq, internet happened, palm oil, Obama and 80s music. Bindy too is born into this setting. Urgh, its just mid boggling to try to think what the next 20 years will be for them.

My first newborn photo session took about an hour. I learned that I need to make a lot time for them. And while they seem to sleep a lot and is oblivious with what’s happening around them; they are also still insecure and constantly need the comfort of the mother. And when she gets it…its serenity.

This is part 2 of She’s been waiting for you.

A new baby is like the beginning of all things-wonder, hope, a dream of possibilities. ~ Eda J. Le Shan

She’s been waiting for you…

…and finally you came. This is baby Sonya.

I was in KK last weekend and I did this in 1 hour amidst crying and feeding. LOL. She’s a character that little girl and we all love her. There’s some more to come. This is just what I was doing in the morning and I thought I’d share it here.

A baby will make love stronger, days shorter, nights longer, bankroll smaller, home happier, clothes shabbier, the past forgotten, and the future worth living for. -- Anonymous

Babies are such a nice way to start people. -- Don Herrold

Meet Rara

We worry about what a child will become tomorrow, yet we forget that he is someone today. ~Stacia Tauscher