IOMX ASEAN Youth Forum, Bangkok, Thailand.

On 11th March, I was on my way to one of the biggest adventure of my life! I headed out to the airport with a lot of nerves and excitement for my upcoming trip. 

In December, I accepted the challenge to advocate against human trafficking and modern day slavery. And in February, I'm on my way to meet with 19 other ASEAN's most profound young leaders to realise the advocacy in an exciting youth forum designed by IOMx. 

Bangkok-bound, enjoying the on air sunset

We arrived at the Beat Hotel, Bangkok, that night. I gotta say that it's an amazing place, very artistic and definitely a good 'youth venue'. 

Nestled in the most artsy district of Bangkok was IOM X's inaugral ASEAN Youth Forum against human trafficking and slavery - incredibly amazing 4 days in Bangkok training in anti-human trafficking campaigning and outreach efforts with the amazing Lindsey Higgs, who I'm so thankful for everything she and the IOM X team did to make these the five days the best! Your unwavering support for our ideas pushes us forward. Met inspiring and passionate youth from all over ASEAN that made it an unforgettable experience/ lunching with UN and its affilliate agencies like UN Women, ILO, World Vision, IOM and USAID Asia with so much passion for youth advocacy was encouraging. So much hope for the future, with the help of IOM X and ASEAN Youth for Ending Slavery

The few days was very relaxed and easy-going, everybody was comfortable.

During the first night, we had dinner while chilling at a skybar @ Marriott hotel. The bar offers one of the most beautiful 360 degree panoramic view of the city. It was wonderful!

After the skybar dinner, we took the initiative to explore the night market which the name I do not remember. It's got a very festive and lively atmosphere. There was one section that serves great street food, then there were also people walking around carrying insects like scorpions, crickets and worms. I tried the cricket, it wasn't pleasant but it actually tasted like peanuts. hahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahhahahaha

Tuk-tuk rides! Most exciting ride ever! We went fast and furious

Then the second day brought us even more amazing activities, one that really caught my eyes was the role-play section. We role-played a situation in which a young man in a poor family wanted to migrate, desperate to find money to support his old, sick parents. And then he found a recruiter, not exactly trustworthy, but he was offered a job in a neighbouring country and he doesn't need to produce documents which takes up a lot of time... he just need to say yes and he is ready to fly. However, he took the initiative to take advice from his friends and a local migration resource centre to ensure that he travels safely. 

What's amazing about this role play is that it involves and engages with the audience (us and a few other USAID and UN staffs) so the audience get to give open opinions about the role-player's decision making.

And what's even more interesting is that.. there were gopros attached on the role-players' heads so that we can make a film out of it as well. and it's in a first-person's perspective. (wait... does my story make sense?)

and after that, we took an awesome group photo

beautiful roof top sunset

And on the last day, we had a city challenge - X marks the spot.

It is designed in a way that it resembles a photo-marathon. We were given a list of things that is related to human trafficking, then we were set free to roam around in the city to find photos to take. I had a gopro attached to my head to record all the things that we did that day. Which.. is pretty exciting. 

One of our group's work through the city challenge, chasing a train... this to symbolise travel and migration.

And after that, we just design timelines of specific country activities.

The certificate presentation is unique though. Instead of IOMx presenting the certs, it is the participants that present the certs to each other.

And then at night, we had a river cruise... beautiful!

Met a guy, I can't recall his name. I heard it as Tyler, but I'm pretty sure it's spelled differently. He's a photographer too! *omg moment*

And this is a bomb shelter

I know this blog post doesn't do justice to the actual forum... but I hope it did give a little insight of the things we did. All in all, IOMx did a pretty good job in designing the workshop... in a way that it is super informative and fun at the same time. 

A world full of strangers - A note of gratitude

I lost my phone at 3a.m of 15/3/2015 in Don Mueang airport, Thailand. I was honestly flustered. Scared. Panicked. It's fairly difficult as it is to communicate with people as many of them don't speak very fluent english. I was very thankful to god that day that I managed to stay calm and patient.

But most of all... I am thankful to all the strangers around me. The security lady who kindly helped point out the directions I should go to find the airport's police. The nice stewardess who just got off work, who gracefully help me translate every word I say to a security guard that has almost zero clue of what I'm saying.

And also to the two kind, and beautiful stranger that stayed with me through the ordeal. Thank you sir for lending me your phone to contact people, without a single thread of doubt. Thank you for allowing me to call. And to the lady, who faithfully translated me for the policeman. Thank you to the professional policemen who also helped me through it all.

Although my phone is a lost hope, I am very thankful to these kind strangers. I don't know you, but you lend me a helping hand anyway.

Amal's love for photography - The Story Behind

People have been asking me a lot lately, "Amal, why do you love it?", "Amal, when did you first started?", "Amal, how do you even do it?". 'It' being photography. So with people asking me these sets of questions, I honestly start getting inspired to write.... a book. HAHA And this will be the one and only post that you will see so much photo of myself.


A brief history - how it all started
But anyway, to answer your question, let's take the time machine to travel back to 2004. Back then, to own a digital camera, you have to be significantly... wealthy. And a few friends I hang around with owns a digital camera. At that time, all I have in my head was how amazing it is that such small thing has the ability to stop and capture a moment in time. And this may sound unbelievable coming from me, what fueled my spark of interest was... jealousy. Weird, but I went home that day, demanding a camera from my parents. Because as a child, honestly, I have this mindset that parents can make anything happen, like they're magic or something. I was honestly disappointed when I heard "I'm sorry but we can't afford it. Besides, what are you gonna use it for anyway?". Like a child, I sulked about it for a while. I forgot about it eventually, for a few months.

A few months after that, I found my parents' camera hidden in the corner of a drawer. It's this classic canon camera that uses film. It's not digital. So you have no preview whatsoever. So I sneaked it to school the next day, and start snapping away. I remember very vividly I started with taking pictures of recess, my friends - juniors and seniors alike - running around the field playing basketball or riding a scooter and etc. And I went home that day begging my dad to develop the film at the photo shop. I was satisfied with what came out. I keep doing just that in the next few years, capturing the fun, whenever I had the opportunity. Or whenever I've saved enough money to buy film.

Fast forward to 2009, I joined the "photography and adventure club" at school. And I still took pictures with my film camera. The film camera stayed with me for quite a long time. Until I got frustrated that my photos are starting to not turn out nicely and it was seen as... not so nice. and then I've got my first... well not really, second digital phone. You know, the one with camera. Yeah.And start taking better... average photos?

I really wish I could show you but I'm too embarrassed of my older photos HAHAHAHA. But anyway, you can still see some on this blog, because 2009 is also coincidentally the year I started blogging. maybe, I think. But I lost majority of the old photos I printed through a natural disaster.

By 2010, I've learnt how to effectively persuade people and at the same time, I manage to borrow DSLR from people. And I learnt that DSLR gives good quality pictures. I started learning on my own the "how-to" of photography, I'll explain that in a later paragraph. But at that time, I also figured out that my parents are not magic. Which means, we probably couldn't afford it. So I waited, I start being patient, and continued borrowing people's camera. People mostly don't mind when I do that, at least there's more of themselves in their pictures, and I take great pictures (what an obnoxious statement).

However, I managed to ask from my mom to buy me a camera if I get great results for my 'o' levels. And kept her promise she did when I got very colourful results. She got me a tiny compact camera at the beginning of 2012, but I was happy.

I used that camera for about a year, my best companion. At times it frustrates me, especially in low lighting situation. But it's also the same device that helped me find my best partners in crime (although there are plenty of other reasons and factors that helped us become the best of friends), we call ourselves the trio, we have an interesting "venn diagram" friendship. And I am starting to stray away from my actual subject.

But my dearest compact camera has been super amazing, it strengthens my love for nature photography. Because moving subjects (like humans) cause the photos to be bad. I'm sorry. HAHA 

And moving towards the end of 2012, I received a sponsorship from the local ministry of education and the U.S embassy to attend the South East Asian Youth Leadership Program (SEAYLP) at the United States of America! It's exciting and all that, and I managed to stay as far away from shopping as possible and managed to save up my allowance to buy my very own DSLR - a canon 650D.

And of course, I manage to take better quality photos with that baby. I never neglect my mom's gift though, I use it every now and then to make my life easier - rather than carrying bulky gears. But my 650D and I have been on great adventure. 

My love for photography explained - A World Of My Own

Simply because of the challenge it sets for myself. Many people have the misconception that photographing is a lazy job. Or maybe it's something you can do as long as you have a good, nice and super expensive camera. No guys, it's not as easy as you may think. But I'm not complaining. The challenge is the thing that makes me happy. 

Because honestly, after each adventure or each event, carrying all those gears will take a toll on your body. Your back, your arms, your legs, EVERYTHING hurts. But at the end of the day, when you take a look back at your pictures... all those pain doesn't really matter. 

But more than that, I'm a shy person. I'm awkward.. and I am very much used to being invisible. And photography is the only thing that allows me to take risks while ignoring my comfort zone. I could finally be me. I could be the me that I want to be, no expectations, moving at my own pace and guided by my own vision. It's the only state that I am allowed to have a world of my own. And it's also basically the only thing I don't suck at. 

Taking risks: Standing on unstable spots (photo creds: Syaak)

Stepping outside the comfort zone: my friends discovered a new frog species. (photo cred: Syaak)

Usually I would be embarrassed doing this in front of other people. 

Because of photography as well, I have learnt to be attentive and very appreciative of my surrounding. And hence, the world of my own. You'll get what I mean in the next photo set. I am always alert of the changes, even the tiniest (well, sort of), I will notice it. People told me that they literally see my eyes sparkle when I notice something. And I usually smile like a loon moments later. And thank you Syaak for managing to capture the next few pictures on candid, I appreciate that. 

I spotted a dragon fly gliding like a boss around some branches.

My heart starts pumping so hard and my adrenaline starts rushing

I start smiling a little, my eyes never stop following it's every move

I think I saw the perfect angle to capture the photo at this moment

And I got my shot.

(I'll upload that in a later post)

It really is just so hard to describe in words. But from the photo set, the best way I could summarise it, is that doing this just literally fill my heart with great and positive emotions. 

And oh, I also happen to suck at explaining things without visual. so... yeah. (see, that bad habit again)

How? - A story of how my brain and reflexes work

1. Be quick, you see an opportunity.. take it!

2. Take risks. You might look weird in that pose but.. just do it. Don't be shy. (sometimes, it can be my weakness too - being shy)

3. Be motivated, always.

4. Take risks (again) - learn to discover your own angle... and styles. 

5. Experiment, A LOT

6. Use your technology, there's google. 

7. Be genuine, don't lie. It'll make your work a work of art, a very authentic work of art.

8. Get inspired, be inspired.

9. Do it because you love it, do it for passion, do it because you know you will never ever get bored of it.

10. Do it because with every breath you take or with every thoughts you think... you feel like picking up the camera and go shoot something. 

11. Do it to connect and to get your message across. 

That's the end of my super long post, I should start considering writing a book. And if you have any other questions you'd like me to answer, leave a message!

Happy new year!

Four days late, but happy new years nonetheless! Last year, and this year, I don't really have a resolution for my new years. I realised resolutions, in some ways, are almost hard to achieve. So I set goals instead. Mini goals at that.

One awesome thing I picked up somewhere in lectures was to set "S.M.A.R.T goals".
S - Specific (Be specific on what you want, pinpoint it)
M - Measurable (If you wanna see how much you've achieved, be sure to make sure that you can see it and not just feel it)
A - Action Oriented (It speaks for itself, does it not?)
R - Realistic (Be realistic lah!)
T - Time Bound (Time bound, so you don't procrastinate)

2014 has been weird for me, rough, smooth, happy, sad, stressful. It's mixed. But most of all, 2014 has been one of the most defining year of my life. I started off the year badly, and it sort of take off from that point from then on. I'm glad to have met so many young, inspiring and amazing people throughout 2014.

Thank you for being a part of it, here's to 2015 and beyond!

National Day 2014

Brunei National day: 23rd February 2014

I know. I know. I'm extremely late.

I think it's one of the most tiring shoots I've ever done. So I had a closing shift at work that day, which means that I leave my work place at 2.30 a.m, reach home at around 3 a.m-ish... did some laundry and stuff and finish at 4, confirming plans with my partner and everything is settled at 4.30... and I had to wake up at 5 in order to be able to catch a bus from PTET (my former school) to the national stadium.... So I barely slept... and I also skipped my breakfast, somehow. I almost fainted towards the end, half because of the lack of rest.. and the other was excitement... and the other was the crazy 30 something degree Celsius weather.

But enough complaining, it was, in my opinion, one of the most YOLO shoots I've ever done as well. Aside from all the complications, we actually managed to enter the stadium without a ticket... and access all the "press only" area. HAHAHAHAHA we almost got kicked off, but thank god we were fast runners. See, being photographers comes with the perks of having strong arms and good stamina. LOL

Anyway, this year's national day is themed "Generasi berwawasan", or in English... "visionary generation". It was wonderful, the patriotism bounces off every single surface of the stadium, from top to bottom. It was an amazing feeling.

So, here are some pictures. :)

the youngest patriot in the house!

Look at these sea of people!

The royals

Ridiculously photogenic people EVERYWHERE

More pictures in part 2, stay tuned!