Calvaryzone: My Photographic Journey

For as long as i could remember, i have always been fascinated with photography.

The thought of packing up everything you own into a small backpack and go globetrotting, capturing and sharing the sights of the world and the people you meet.
Or going front line into a war zone armed with only the camera, capturing the most realistic sight of the horrors of war, and making it back in one piece to submit the award winning picture to the publisher.
Or going head to head with a king cobra in a life or death situation to capture the precise moment when it pounces into the camera.
Or be surrounded by a bevy of beauties in a fashion shootout, capturing the essence of timeless beauty in the designer gowns. (I think i was more inclined towards this hahaha).

I could still remember clearly my first exposure to a camera, the first time touching and be fascinated by such an amazing tool.
The camera in question was my cousins' from Singapore. Long long time back they came visiting to Malaysia and brought the camera (actually that was the only time they brought the camera over).

I was still in primary school (can't remember actual age) at that time so handling the heavy camera was a task itself, but there was a feeling of empowerment, a sense of satisfaction (or maybe that was just my inflated ego. hey pretty girl, look here!) but at that time i knew that i would be interested in something called photography (well, at that age i probably couldn't even spell photography but you get my driff).

They taught me how to correctly hold a SLR (which by the way needs one hand to support the lens), how to load/unload the film (yeah, it was back in those film days), change lens, etc.

After that short encounter, i never did gain access to a camera for a while as the family could not afford one. Sometimes when we go on holidays, we would borrow a camera from relatives to take the vacation pictures. That was as far as i got to touch a camera.

All that changed until one fateful day while the family was holidaying at Sunway lagoon.
Again, we were camera-less so the night before when i lit up the joss stick to offer my wish list to God, i prayed that somehow magically a camera would suddenly appear, thereby allowing us to finally take our own vacation pictures.

Ok, that was not the actual wish. the actual wish was for us to strike a lottery winning 1 million ringgit.

But surprisingly that night the inner core of the joss stick did not break (normally they just turn to ashes) and according to some urban legend, if that happens, then your wish would come true. (yippie kay yay!)

Ok, it is safe to assume that we didn't strike the lottery the next day. Or the next. Or anytime soon. Else i won't writing this blog and trying to earn a living.

So the next day we were having fun at Sunway lagoon, playing our hearts out (this was when i was still in secondary school). Lo and behold, at one of those rides (if i remembered correct, it was that ride with the spinning cups) someone left their camera on board.

Being the responsible family, we looked around to see if anyone was seaching for the camera. We paused for a short time (yeah, for like 5 seconds), wondering if the owner will come back and claim the camera, before we quickly took possession of it (yippie kay yay!).

Anyway, we got out of the ride, took the camera out from the camera pouch and lo and behold, it was a Canon compact film camera (i knew i should have prayed harder for a SLR hehehe).

That camera became my cherished treasure that accompanied me through alot. During family vacations, during special moments, during my oversea travels, it has captured a big part of our lives.

But of course developing the films is a pain, and very very expensive, so don't get me started on that. Whoever invented digital photography should be given a Nobel prize.

Ok, enough of text for today (wouldn't be surprised if you developed bloodshot eyes by now).
Here are some pictures taken with the film camera, developed and digitally scanned for your viewing pleasure.

Family vacation, Genting Highlands