Trigger Happy

You rise as high as your dominant aspiration, you descend to the level of your lowest concept of yourself. Free your mind and your ass will follow. - Funkadelic, Good Thoughts, Bad Thoughts

For those who are not aware, I have gotten a new limb. Meaning, nowadays, if you should happen to go out someplace with me, I will most likely be wearing a black bulky thing strung around my neck called a Nikon D50 (digital SLR) camera.
I must say it is the most addictive, funkiest, coolest toy I have had for a while. The last equally cool expensive toy my parents got me would have to be my violin. Sometimes I feel somewhat guilty- I wish I could pay for this. If I worked for it, wouldn't I appreciate it more? And then I say, one day I will pay them back in kind. For now, I will use it to learn. And make the buy worthwhile. And count myself lucky.

Dear friends, a few words of warning... With this thing around my neck :
1. I tend to get carried away. When I start crawling under gutters because I think it would be nice to get shots of slime dripping on to the lens, it is time to knock some sense in to me. Literally.
2. When I want a picture, I usually would do what it takes to get the picture. e.g: setting up a tripod in the middle of the road, approaching hawker sellers, climbing on cars etc.
3. As a result of 1. and 2. , I may be a slight embarrassment to have around. If you can't deal with it, leave me somewhere to clickclick & then come back to pick me up later, or tell me in a stern voice "The Nikon stays at home".

STORY

I was out last night with 2 friends and my sis. After an adventurous drive around the island (that involved a drive up to kekloksi temple, stepping out of the car only to witness the shutting down of all the lights and lanterns, then driving back down towards town, turning & going in to a one way street....the wrong way), we finally reached a decent photo night spot and stopped to take shots of the night hawker scene and lanterns hanging across the street.


In the end, yes I did get shots of the local night life & hawker sellers.... but,

- The hawker sellers thought I was from a local newspaper & started yelling at me to take their picture, posing for me. I obliged, asking them to 'smile'.
- I seem to have disrupted the ambiance of some of the old men having their night time cup of coffee.
- My 3 companions seemed to be walking awfully fast, in front of me, on our way back to the car.....

Sometimes, I wonder if it's worth it. The things we do all for the sake of art, or just plain interest. And then I think, what harm did it do to anyone? At worst, the hawkers get a cheap thrill and free publicity. At worst, I look like a local-gone-wrong psycho tourist. But then... I've got all these brilliant photos to remember the night by!!!!

Somehow, I don't think my sentiments are shared by many others...