Burma

After almost 20 years since the last military suppression, the monks and people of Burma are out on the streets again. Pent-up frustration, economic hardships, corruption and the iron-fist rule imposed by the junta are the main cause of this recent uprising, which had lasted 9 days without violence until today.

I watched the situation on CNA, which was either secretly shot or sent out by Burmese with cameras. The political situation in Burma has always caught my attention, especially the on-going war between the government soldiers and Karen guerillas. Few would believe that fighting are still taking place in this part of Asean.

Press black-out imposed by the junta is expected and carried out. But with modern technology and international media at work, we could get a glimpse of the situation on the ground. The power of the media is put to the test now. Wish I could be part of it.

Story on New York Times

To support the Burmese people, sign the online petition to UN Security Council

He's up and about

Dazel seems like he is back to his usual self today. Thats good news as he has been hospitalised for 4 nights last week. It started with loss of appetite and he vomited 6 times in 4 hours. That was scary, and he was weak and silent on the way to the hospital at midnight. I have never seem him this way, as the car ride at any time of the day will get him excited . Instead, he just sat silently on my sister's lap with a towel wrap around his body which was colder than usual.

We still didn't know what went wrong, even after blood tests, scans and X-ray, and the 4 nights in a cage surrounding by other sick pets. He was pretty worked up when we visited him daily, I guess he was angry and wanted to go home. The surgery never went through as the vet was not too sure if they can find anything inside him, and the anaesthetic could pose a risk to his heart problems.

He started to eat gradually and I finally heard him bark this morning! Thats a good sign.



This is a picture of him playing with his favourite rubber bone toy after his bath. (An indication that he is fine, when he can play "fetch" with it)

At the age of 10 doggies years (human equivalent of 70), I guess we have to get used to it.

I watched the documentary Sicko yesterday, and was left speechless by the health care comparison between US and some parts of Europe. The evils of conspiracy and politics are revealed and the treatment some Americans received at the losing end are simply inhumane, considering that they are citizens of the richest nation in the world. Go watch it.

It will jolt you into thinking what health care treatment and the cost we have to bear when we reach Dazel's age. Personally, after weighing the pros and cons, I would prefer to be a retiree in France than here.

Looking Back and I Realise

My website has been in cyberspace for years. I did it myself, everything from scanning the negatives (most of the pics are taken on negative film or slide film) to the page layout using Dreamweaver, image and text editing and uploading. Out of the blue, I decided to surf through my own website. I have not done that even since taking up the job of a full-time news photographer more than a year ago. I guess that is because its not so important anymore. I was wrong.

On looking back, with every click through the pages I have created, I realise how much it means to me. It defined my passion for photojournalism, for story telling. Those pages were created bit by bit, after my day job as an engineer. I learnt the webpage software from books borrowed from library, and started building up my online portfolio. It took me about a year to complete most of it. Then I stopped.

As an amateur, I worked as a waiter during university holidays to save for my first autofocus SLR (Digital cameras were for the pros during that time). Autofocus was good enough then. With that and a heart full of passion, I managed to do a story in Vietnam and Cambodia, without any press credentials or liasion personnel. And there was the solo bike ride up the hills of East Timor. I almost got stranded when the engine almost died on me. It was really fun. I was allowed to photograph my subjects freely, with no agenda or readers-oriented mindset. I even thought that I was getting a feel of what the photojournalism greats have experienced during the industry's heydays back in the 60s ad 70s. All that for building my portfolio, in the hope of getting a job to do that every day of my life.

Ironically, I have not felt that way for a long time. Daily assignments are mostly "on the surface" type of coverage. It keeps the mind sharp for new angles, but its nothing compared to doing my own story and going out to a foreign land and getting access to photograph the way I feel is the best way to tell the story.

Time to get back on track and keep the passion alive. Its entirely up to ourselves to do that.

Best of 2006-07

Its the time of the year, when we select our best work from Sep last year to this Aug for appraisal.

I had them spread out on my bed, and pretend to be chief editor... I decide whats goes on the front page!



A fun exercise which brought back lots of memories of the time in the field. I have seen and experienced much for the year, a fruitful year which I managed to accomplished what I set out to do. But the goal is still far from reach. I need a horse whip to to go faster.

Happily married for a month already.