2009 - a year in pictures

Perhaps you are very dissatisfied with yourself. You are not a genius, have no distinctive gifts, and are inconspicuous when it comes to having any special abilities. Mediocrity seems to be the measure of your existence. None of your days are noteworthy, except for their sameness and lack of zest. Yet in spite of this, you may live a great life.

And yes, that has how my life was: mediocre. But since I picked up my first SLR camera - an Olympus E-510 one and a half years ago, it has brought me a new zeal and artistic vision to capture that which matters, and till today, I am proud to say that it is what makes me what I am.

Here is a years' reflections of what I've been through so far in 2009.

January

Started the first week with a whole lot of barbecue invitations. Needless to say, I gained a few pounds within one week !

Faithfully attended the Suzuki Night market week after week, though admittedly I haven't tried much of the food at the market until now.

Celebrated Australia Day with the rest of Melbourne.

Whoops, almost forgot Chinese New Year. Much more happening that my quiet hometown in Malaysia.

February

Spent a lovely day by the river on Valentine's. I can still vividly remember the pink skies from the bush fire season.

The treasury gardens hosted the Osaka Twilight Festival. Had plenty of fun over there.

March

Alexandria Gardens and the Yarra played host to the Moomba fest from 7-9 March.

The water games were quite spectacular.

I enjoyed the Thai Culture and Food Festival at Federation Square, especially the gorgeous performers ;)

The F1 season was in Melbourne. It's a pity that the race didn't end as spectacularly as i expected.

April

Basketball Australia attempted to break a world record dribbling event at Fed Square.

Celebrated Easter without going to the Belgrave Heights Convention that I used to attend.

Went for a long vacation and had some lovely Kolo Mee!

Tried to socialise with my pet chicken, Fred to no avail. She poops, sleeps, eats, and lays an egg once in a while. Pretty exciting eh? :s

May

Covered a fashion event at our local shopping mall. Nothing much ever happens in Kuching, so we photographers have to find stuff to amuse ourselves.

Began documenting our local heritage along Gambier St, more specifically the Old Wet Market. Sad to say it's all disappeared now.

June

Revisited my roots in Sibu (a small town in Sarawak), specifically my great grandparents' house. Till today I still can't believe this feeble timber structure is still standing, although the current place that I'm renting in Melbourne is about a 100 years old :p

Documented the Miss World Harvest Festival at the Sarawak Cultural Village. Though some of the beauties are gorgeous, there's much to be improved on regarding the venue which is semi outdoor and doesn't have aircond !

Paid a courtesy call to the St Joseph's School band I once joined as they prepared for the Nationals. An enlightening experience to be there.

July

Visited an Olympus event in Plaza Mont Kiara to check out the launch of the new EP-1.

Went for my first ever PAM (Persatuan Arkitek Malaysia) Convention at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Center. Experienced my first inaugural mugging during the convention. Must be bad luck I reckon.

Visited Ipoh for the first time, and had a fantastic photography outing while at the same time tried various local delicacies.

August

Rejoined the Fotoholics club activities after being absent for quite some time.

Celebrated Merdeka with some close friends at my place after cooking up a storm. Ah.. the good ole' times.

September

Covered the Myers Spring Summer Fashion launch with supermodel Jennifer Hawkins in the spotlight.

Witnessed first hand a rifle volley and a canon firing during Melbourne Day.

Had a first glimpse of Australian Idol live at Federation Square.

Covered a Juwita Suwito Concert at the Arrow Heights basement with upcoming talent Alarice Thio.

October

Had a pleasant Korean dinner in conjunction with my birthday (and the mooncake festival) at Han Guuk Guan

Experienced the craziest show at the Melbourne Arts Festival brought by France's Transe Express

Went to the Indonesian Festival at Federation Square for an awesome cultural exchange.

November

Got tanned after continuously being in the sun for almost 7 hours at  the AAMI Victoria Derby Day.

Went for a day trip in Dandenong with some friends from pre-university days (some of whom I haven't seen for 4 years), and had a fantastic English meal at Miss Marples afterwards.

December

Gave my first Fotoholics mini lecture for their final meeting of the year. It was good fun though.

Had an awesome trip to Great Ocean Road with the guys.

Had my first foray into graduation photography on a more ''serious'' scale. It was intense, but fun~

To my dear friends who've helped to support me this year, a big THANK YOU goes out to you sincerely from my heart. I hope your New Years' eve celebrations will be a blast and may you have a great year ahead ! ~

cheers,

Brandon