I was doing a shoot at a friend’s place a couple of days ago and as usual, I was enjoying myself as most photographers do when given the opportunity to shoot beautiful people in a beautiful setting. Well, I do anyway heheh…
Sometime during the afternoon, a guest, a very successful businessman and a prominent Bruneian, made a remark which went something like this, “Eh, turun pangkat kah jadi photographer?”
Normally, I would have made a smug come-back to the distinguished gentleman’s comment, something like, “Maaf Tuan, not sure about that, but my previous job in top management involved shovelling other peoples’ shit, and lots of it, so in my humble opinion, photography’s a vast improvement.”
But on that day, I somehow brushed the comment aside and continued enjoying myself behind the lens. It was then that it dawned upon me how much I have grown to love photography… so much so that a derogatory remark, which normally would have gotten me riled up, flowed off me like water off glass 🙂
AnakBrunei, you’re right. Once someone said to me “eh lawyer jadi tukang gambarkah? kan tukar keraja?” Whilst on another occasion I was not sure whether it’s a compliment or otherwise when someone said “ani mahal ni tukang gambar ani mun kan dibayar sama macam lawyer’s fee!” On both occasions I just smiled & continued with what I enjoyed doing, snapping away.
yup bro, when we are with our cameras we are on a different world which set us apart from the others. Jeles tu durang nada terdapat. Photography has given me a new breath of life. I got to learn and appreciate more of the natural environment.
End of the day, we’re just the tukang gambar 🙂 macam the tukang masak and the tukang kerajaan…
adakah kana cakap camatu…
I wonder what people will react if I said I want to be a “Professional Blogger”… right now I’m still “Part-time blogger”
Doesn’t really matter guys … if you like your photography stuffs then so be it … if we want enjoy with our life then make the best out of it. I’m sure being a shutterbug will give you the satisfaction, so people’s opinions are irrelevant in that sense …
If you’re lacking in versatility, good chance that you’ll miss the interesting parts of your life … and honestly these people are the miserable type … lost with the real definition of life … OK lah … melarat tia jua …huhu…
Can I be the tukang bancuh oren? hehe
Sadly, that’s the mentality of some of our people. What do you reckon the reaction would be if the photographer was a Caucasian? I’m pretty sure that there would be lots of ‘oooing’ and ‘aaahhing’, compliments, wanting to find out more and then going all doe eyed and then generally being so impressed 🙂
Well, for me, having the time and space to do what we really love is much, much better than having a top end job with no time for photography.
Well put Souljah, whats the meaning of life if we can’t pursue our interest and passion?
Astute, yes I can imagine if it was a omputih photographer, then obviously very mahal lah the fees and generally the “tuan” mentality kicks in “)
Bruneian, sure bro, kalau nada tukang bancuh oren, mati karing leher kali ah bilangurang heheh…
Kantalensa: I like that! Next time I also just senyum mesra and carry on…
Reza: Mun sudah jadi pro-blogger with five-figure income every month atu, ampit-ampiti saja bro ah, minum di coffee bean.. SINGAPORE! Hehehe!
zadm: yup, I think photography has opened our eyes to things we take for granted
moglie: berry wise comment brada and I agree 100%. Life’s too short.
david: what exactly does a tukang kerajaan do ah? hehehe
see.. how important tukang bancuh oren is? hehe 🙂
bro Kantalensa, I was asked the same question during the National Day outing last week by a friend. “Ehh sejak bila orang QA turun pangkat jadi cameraman ani?” I just replied “awu jadi paparazzi udah”
People can say what they want, bottomline I’m proud to walk around carrying my cam and gear. In fact photography made my job a lot easier when comes to collecting evidences, and I love it!
Excellent. I salute you!!! Aye..Aye.. Captain!
I got the same remarks recently when I did a wedding shoot! I let it passed as I see more beautiful things in my life…
I have met more beautiful souls who have become treasured friends than ive ever did ever since i left my job as an education officer. The pay is not glamourous, but at the end of the day, i look forward to tomorrow.
‘Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something’.
yea…ur right…hee…like me,im the choir member and some of my “friends” say like “inda mampu cari kraja ka masuk choir ani?”…hee…well i wanna do anything i want…n yea,im a part time worker saja and balum cari full-time work since i wanna join choir..hee