Sport and Rest (by kMuru)

The blending of old and new, reinvigorating forgotten spaces, preserving history through a physical presence are all themes that are emphasized when cities attempt to preserve their heritage. In Melbourne, this is beautifully done, and with strict heritage laws, heritage buildings are wonderfully preserved.

Commercialization of a prime piece of land is often the sole reason many cities lack open spaces that seemingly blend into the surrounding cityscape.

In Kuala Lumpur, parts of the city have been gentrified to make way for pockets of development. This type of economic eviction is common in many parts of the world. Old, pre-war buildings still stand amidst the skyscrapers pointing to the skies.

It creates a contrasty and rough view of a city. This presents an ideal opportunity for a photographer to document the rapidly changing landscape. 

Life back then. A collection of family photographs from a newly independent country.

I’ve never met my paternal nor my maternal grandfather. They passed away a decade or so before I was born.

However, they documented, collected and archived hundreds if not thousands of photographs from the 1950s to 1970s. This hobby continued with my father and now me, resulting in a multi-dimension collection of sorts, spanning three generations.

And so, now begins a project of digitally archiving the photos, reliving the moments of a different generation, listening to stories and tales of life back in a newly independent Malaysia.

Below is a sneak peek of the photos and the “vault” where they’re stored waiting to be rediscovered. 

Stadium Food. 

Greasy, processed and cold. But add in some very passionate fans, a market is formed, serving the needs of a hungry and frustrated lot.  

(Source: kmuru.com)

lomokev:

(via National Geographic Photo Contest 2012: Part II - The Big Picture - Boston.com)

Rambutans. Amazing crop this year but due to the thunderstorms, it is not as sweet as I expected. Sad.

I’ll have to pick the fruits and trim the tree a bit. All this while doing battle with some fiery red ant battalions, knowing that the rambutans this year will most likely go to waste.

Malaysia’s national flower, the hibiscus. 

Shot on slide film, that old beauty. It’s beautiful when viewed on the light box.

In his own world.

peergettyimages:

Electric energy sparks from a hand ,form of heart by Yagi studio

Hiking at Lerderderg State Park. My farewell hike before migrating to Malaysia. It was quite pleasant and the weather was great.

To top it all off, we encountered a large tiger snake, out sunbathing after its winter hibernation. The paranoia that sets in when encountering a wild snake is madness. Walking through the trails with my body brushing shrubs and branches only made it worse. Certain branches become snakes, and insects sound like a snake hissing. 

(Source: kmuru.com)

kateoplis:

Guillaume Gaudet

Sandy’s aftermath in the streets of New York

GPOYW

In about a week from now, I will be leaving Melbourne to take up a job offer in Malaysia, the country I grew up in. So I thought it would be fitting to take a couple of photos of the room where I spent quite a considerable amount of time in. 

Many have asked me how could I just leave everything and head off to another place. To be honest, I’ve never thought much about it, didn’t really have much time except to pack and wind up stuff here. 

I have just returned from Malaysia, having spent 2 weeks there, having gone for interviews and in the process, decided to take up one of the job offers. While there, my mom showed me an excerpt of teachings by Buddha and I fell upon this quote which resonates quite well with me, for the moment. 

Change is the law of life.

That said, I am looking forward to it and most of the concerns that I have are mere obstacles. 

So begins another chapter in my life. Exciting times!

Engine Room of a Vessel

Heading into the heart of this beast made me think of fuel in the context of global logistics and the uncertainties in the price of oil. We are hugely dependant on oil to supply us the goods we need and we have not found a viable substitute if we run short of it. While I’m not an out and out believer of the Peak Oil Theory, I do believe the days of cheap, easy to procure oil is over.

While I was standing in the container line of a top 20 seaport, I can only imagine the amount of containers that are moved each day around the world. It is a colossal operation with huge implications for economies worldwide.