The KL Ride with Da Bois

    First of all im writing this because i like typing on my RedDragon redswitch keyboard and i have nothing to do that involves typing. I do alot of graphic designs lately and photography as a hobby. So, not much of a typing guy. I figured this would help. Also it improves my writing skills for my future.

    Im also updating my blog since the last time i wrote was 10 years ago and sometimes i went back reading my old posts and it just brings back memories. Memories that can never will be recreated again. This is me just writing incase my future self would be bored and one day would open my blog and just feel like going down a trip to the memory lane.

    On Saturday, 13 Nov 2021. It was just me, Syazrul, Mal and Zakri. We got nothing to do even though its the weekends. Syazrul has limited time staying with us at Ridzuan Condo so we thought that we should spend time going somewhere rather than just staying inside. I suggested that we go to the Saloma Bridge. It was a mistake...

    Little did we know, everyone in KL was thinking the same thing. Even before we arrived, the road was continuously jammed with cars. All type of cars you name it. Even riding motorcycles we struggled to get pass through them. Passing by the cars, i can see mostly children in the backseat and i know its not going to be a relaxing hangout. It means that everyone is bringing their family with them.

    When we arrived at the bridge there are more people. You know its going to be massive amount of people when you see stalls and kiosk selling stuffs including drinks, toys and merch. Especially kids toys because theres going to be alot of families. I immediately regret my decision after setting foot at the bridge as theres no room to even move. Im not usual of crowds after the pandemic hits us in 2020. I have to walk behind Mal and let him lead the way. We manage to take a few photos there.

    Here is a selfie of us. You can see the regret look on my face even when it is half covered. Behind us is the Saloma Bridge. It was not much besides just to come and take a few shots.

    This is one of the pictures i took on the bridge. Because thats the only shot i could think of that doesnt involve seeing hundreds of people. By placing the phone at the center of the photo and frame the bridge's texture with another phone. For extra focusing i use portrait mode, one of the features that came out with the phone. I think this shot looks great. My original plan was more of a pose shot. Meaning theres a subject (human) posing on that bridge and we could do reflection shots by putting a phone screen under the camera. The shot would be amazing since the structure and symmetrical lines of the bridge is nice. Not to mention the lighting. The bridge changes color every minute. So for each shot you can get different results and different vibes.

    After that we went for a walk hoping to forget the experience we just went through together. We didnt have a clear plan of where to go so we just wander around taking more pictures. Trying out features in the camera that we never discovered earlier.

    This shot i took while we were crossing the giant road of KL. While waiting for the traffic light to turn green for walkers i quickly took out my phone and SNAP! This is the result. I like this photo as you can see the subject clearly, its a pole with the traffic button (i dont know what its called) giving the picture the street vibes and adding more meaning to it, you can see the KLCC in the background with a creamy blur to separate the subject from the background. This photo is straight out of camera (SOOC) and is already looking pretty great. I bet i can tweak some colors and contrast in Adobe Lightroom and make it even better.

    This one has to be my favourite shot i took that night. Its just a person holding a cup sitting on the ground resting on the H&M outlet, wearing rugged clothing. You can barely see in this image but his shirt was ripped on the collar. Behind him stand mannequins with fancy and fashionable clothing, even lifeless you can see as if they were looking down on him, belittling him. They even have the higher ground and lit perfectly by the outlet's lights while the man is sitting barely visible in the shadow. Beside him is another person standing, a woman, also having higher ground than him which makes him the lowest amongst them. What makes it more interesting is they were both holding something on their hands. Same hand pose just different items. Its like she is mocking him. The woman is holding a phone probably tweeting complaining about her daily life struggles, like we always do. While the man is holding a cup, begging. Hoping for someone to pass by nice enough to land him some spare change just enough for him to buy food to stay alive the next day.

    Thats the art of photography, some might say i overdo on the storytelling, its just a photo. To me its more than that. There is always a story behind every shot. Thats what makes it special. We often pass by all these things in our daily basis but we are to busy to see. We look but we dont see. If we observe things around us we can see them. We appreciate them.

    After a while we decided to call it a night and we head off. The clock was showing 12:40a.m and we were all tired of walking. It was a great adventure we had even though it was nothing much. We really needed it because of the fact we barely see each other, Zakri and i. He works in a factory as a quality inspector and he doesnt have weekends off. Personally, i think he deserves a better job. As for Syazrul he is starting his internship soon in Terengganu so he will spend most of his days in the kitchen. And the fact that he wont have moments like this in Terengganu makes it harder for him. Life isnt easy im telling you. So reading my old posts really helps a little. I hope writing this is going to help my future self incase he needs it.