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design (verb, noun) [di-zain], a retrospective for 2019

As a verb, the word design can be loosely defined as a plan or action taken to achieve a certain goal. However, design also serves as a noun for certain set of skills or attribute that describes the intention of an action or plan . In other words, design can be defined as a connection of a beginning and an end. Design connects and strenghtens the interaction between the environment and human beings. It encourages users to explore a deeper understanding of functions  and space, either through visual cues, and/or physical experiences.  Design can be defined as a creative, meticulously laid out plan in order to surpass the intended solution of the problem. To design is to carefully observe a problem, and with a creative vision, produce a solution that surpasses the basic intended outcome. A product or solution that only manages to provide a basic solution cannot be considered a design but rather an engineered solution. This is an echo to the Bauhaus School founder
Recent posts

The Fear and Loathing of Airport Terminals

Often regarded as a highlight of a city or country, the airport has always been about futuristic designs and sophisticated engineering and management. Hundreds of millions are invested in international airports to ensure their expansions and maintenance in order to accommodate more travellers and businesses. Without a doubt, one can anticipate the conditions of a certain country or city just by landing in their airports.  Behind the tall walls of glass, skylights, shiny kiosks and counters, bright and colourful shops, and neverending ribbons of walkalators, there are more subtle and beautiful facades to an airport. That said, there are also darker parts of the airport that come alive at night, especially in the self-contained, segregated international terminals.  Waiting at the boarding gate or in the terminal itself is usually associated with excitement and joy for a vacation traveller, but it can also be associated with boredom and exhaustion for a seasoned business

Reverse Ruin

I love exploring abandoned buildings, especially old derelict houses.  Stepping into them is like walking through a time portal. The furniture, books and personal belongings that lie covered in dust, half eaten by insects, and strewn across the floor as if a tornado ripped through the house fuels the imagination of what it felt like living in that house during its most prosperous era.  Those very same items also left an unanswered question to explorers, and perhaps the same question asked by the house, towards its forgotten owners - why did they abandoned the place? Properties are always considered as investments and a property owner would not abandon such huge investments without making a profit out of it first. There a a many reasons why buildings are abandoned, but to make a relevant connection to the local environment, it could be narrowed down to a few reasons such as, eviction due to bankruptcy, death of the remaining occupant, and migration of the occupants to a diffe

Time for a new lens?

A couple of posts ago, I mentioned that I would upload some photographs of the cosplays that would have been the attraction of the recent hobby fest - so here they are. One thing I realized when I uploaded them was that the deep depth of field in most of the photographs (a.k.a. no bokeh, no life) and in the realm of photography, these would be considered amateurish and/or bad.  The reason why I did not notice this earlier when I took these photographs was because I was not really interested in portrait photography. Now that I know the concept of portrait photography and the awesome street portrait photographs on some blogs and flickr, my appreciation towards this certain set of skills and lens for this field of photography has increased greatly. This has strengthen my decision to pick up an Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 45mm f1.8 lens as an alternative to the Canon 50mm lens that I have now. As much as I love the Canon 60D, I believe that the OMD E-M10 can be as good, perhaps

Big Yellow Taxi

Every five years, our highways, main trunk or artery roads, and if you're lucky, collector roads that run in front of your house, are re-sealed in order to please the hearts and cars of thousands of motorists in Sarawak. This is not a unique culture in Sarawak per se, but it is a "cultural" norm throughout Malaysia every time election season draws near.  It makes me wonder, for the same amount spent on fixing roads, that did not really need any major repair works in the first place, could the money be spent on some much needed public amenities such as community halls, or better parks, or perhaps better landscaping along the roads.  I took this photograph during my morning rush. Seeing how this roller parked next to the park reminded me of Joni Mitchell's "Big Yellow Taxi"and how relevant that song is still today, I played with the idea of this photo opportunity for a couple of days before I decided to take this photo while they were still doing ro

Too soft and fluffy

Last weekend was the launch of the inaugural Sarawak Hobby Fest 2015. The two days event was held at Kuching Sentral and saw a huge turnout of collectors, cosplayers, yo-yo players, and even a very talented local artist. The crowd response was also overwhelming despite not having any advertisements in the physical format i.e. banners and newspapers. I could not make it on the first day due to heavy overlapping schedule on that Saturday, and sadly missed out on the cosplays. I was looking forward to it so much as I wanted to hone my portrait photography skills. Nevertheless, I was there on Sunday and had fun looking at and photographing the amazing line-up of Gundams, Transformers, dolls and other collectibles that were on display there. It was fun to be able to use the 50mm lens on the Canon 60D again. I've missed it very much as I am continually trying to get myself used to my new Olympus OMD E-M10. I really like to 50mm format for its tight framing and shallow dept