See

Recently, i've been inspired by a friend of mine to start sketching.

Yes, i've done quite a bit of that when I was in art school but that was a decade ago so when the thought of starting to capture images through sketching was posed at me, I didn't reject it. In fact, I think I felt refreshed by the idea of being able to put my observation skills to test and good use in another form other than photography.

My view from the room in Oe-cusse enclave

Being in the enclave 2 weeks ago was the best time and place to do it.

Firstly, there was hardly any digital or technological distractions and really there was nothing else to do when we were back from an assignment and just waiting for nightfall.

I managed to kill time with some sketches of my surroundings which consisted mainly of trees and mountains.

I'm inspired and that old love for doodling and sketching has been rekindled.

It's good practice for me to be patient since sketching is not as instant as taking a photograph.

Thank Paul for the advice and posing that challenge to me.

Will put up more soon. In the mean time this is one of my humble observations.

Sketching of photographing is still the same thing , kind of. I see, I feel and I translate. It's all a form of observation anyway.

Succint

"To take a photograph is to align the head, the eye and the heart. It's a way of life." - Henri Cartier-Bresson

Did you know?

What we so carelessly call every piece of Indian clothing which involves a large loose shirt and pants a Punjabi Suit is actually not very accurate?

Technically what the women wear is called a Punjabi Suit.

The Man's version is known as a Kurta.

So to all of us, who never knew what to call it, or was misinformed, this is a small tip for you and me.

I had the pleasure of learning about this while purchasing a Kurta for Nate, as his childcare center was celebrating Racial Harmony Day today, a lead up to Singapore's independence celebrations early August.

Kurta: is a traditional item of clothing worn in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.

Can you be in 2 countries at 1 time?

YES YOU CAN... Here, a river bed divides my right foot which is on West Timor from my left foot which is on Nusa Tenggara Timur (indonesia)!

We're working on it but in the mean time..

A lot of my friends have asked why I went over to East Timor recently.

Well, this is why...

Our Associated Press health writer decided to do a story on how the World Health Organization (WHO) is eliminating diseases from its list, and East Timor (actually West Timor) which is an old leprosy colony.. so we decided to follow them out to an enclave off West Timor where they were doing a census and monitoring the remaining leprosy patients in Oe-cusse. So we were there to document that process, later on producing a story with photos and TV was filming it as well. A multimedia slide show will be put together so there's a lot of work to be done.

The story is currently being worked on so I haven't really edited my photos but I can share some happy snaps and some pictures which shows the beautiful land mass and mountains we saw.

The place we were at, Oecusse, is amazing. It's still untouched. We crossed rivers and went up steep mountains to reach some of the districts. I think we went to one of the most remote areas in Timor.

Needless to say the light was awesome, the people were great with the camera and the story is inspiring.

We got fitter climbing mountains to visit leprosy patients who were suffering from the disease since Japan's occupation and met a man who's toes were eaten up by rats because he couldn't feel from his ankle down when they attacked his toes which were covered in coconut oil to soften his chapped skin.

The whole trip was an adventure for us as well where we were nearly turned down from catching our flight, corrupted Indonesian Officials, not having electricity and a place to stay as well as getting bumbed off our United Nations helicopter - our only way out of Oecusse for the next 3 days which ended us chartering an MAF flight out which also turned us down in the airfield because it had to medivac some ill people and landed us on what was like the modern version of Noah's ark for 15hrs to get back to Dili.

So tiring but so fun.

Life. Can't get enough of it!

Will update soon.

Are you a control freak?

Some things have started me thinking.

Lately, i've met people around me (recently - and got really offended) like this and I have, myself, been guilty of it, just this morning.

Do we all have a control freak inside of us that when little things go wrong we go ballistic?

It's funny how we grab on to whatever little thing we can, perhaps a schedule, a style, a routine or even the way things are placed on the table.. it just has to be perfect and in-line with everything else in the universe. And the moment something moves out of alignment we lose it.

Do we then let it affect us and the people around us? Have you snapped unnecessarily at someone that really wasn't at fault? Crazy isn't it?

But does it really matter in the end?

I think what we call human nature is in actuality, human habit.. and that can be broken.

People, breathe.

Change and accidents are good. They throw you off tangent and when you can accept it and receive it well, you're a stronger and better person.

Let's keep our heads screwed on tightly and loosen up.

I know I should.

Enjoy the rest of the week.

Dili•Oe-cusse•Oe-sillo•Pasabe•Malelat•Dili

on top of the world- well almost

I just came back from a week-long assignment in a wonderful place where I saw wonderful and amazing things... in every sense of the word.

The sights were breath-taking and some people; inspiring.

Every assignment brings new knowledge and have I mentioned that I love my job?

Will update my blog with pictures and stories soon.

Now tired.