I’m in Malaysia and it’s absolutely beautiful.
I’ve been trying to spend more time with my family so I’m a little slow with my photography. I shot the new image for the 52 Week Project a day before traveling and I’ve been working on it on and off for a few days. The theme was reflections. And of course, the first thing that popped into my head was mirrors. I wanted to make something a little more.. personal. To me, this image is about inner strength – it’s always there, but we don’t always see it. It takes a lot of time and practice for us to believe in ourselves and our own strength.

When I started this, I planned on having a black hazy background. But after going through some of the pictures I took when we got here, I decided to use one I took at the park (I loaded up on stock pictures!). I can’t wait to shoot here. The park I wanna shoot at is a part of the complex we’re staying in, and we’ve been told that we need passes to get in. The security guard felt a little bad for me and my sisters cause we were so excited to go, so he told us that there’s a tiny entrance we can go through just this time. It was awesome.
We also went to China Town and I took lots of pictures! It was so much fun. By the end, a guy walked past us and my sister said  “oh look, your people”. He was wearing a camera vest, had a huge Nikon, and was taking out a lens from his vest. So I turned to look at him and he turned and look at me at the exact same moment. It was funny, we shared this look like we’re both a part of a secret club (I had my camera and lenses with me), then he put his camera up and took pictures of me, without saying a word. So I did the same thing.

Then our very short conversation went something like:
Him: “where are you from?”
Me: “Dubai, you?” (I’m actually not from Dubai, I’m from Ajman. No one knows what the UAE is though, but they know Dubai).
Him: “Vietnam”
Me: *awkward self* “oh cool”
Him: “nice to meet you!”
Me: “you too!” *toothy smile*
And that was it.

Then there’s this picture – I’m not a street photographer but I was super happy with how it turned out.

And here’s one from the park

Then there’s me at the airport with my selfie stick. Don’t judge me – it’s fun.

So this week’s theme is: artificial light.
Why oh why did I put that in there. I don’t really feel comfortable shooting indoors so this is going to be a challenge. Yay for challenges!

I hope you’re all having a good week! Tell me what you’ve been up to 🙂

2014-2017 52 Week Project Thoughts 52 week project amani alshaali china town faith fine art photographer fine art photography inner strength insecurities inspiration kuala lumpur malaysia photography photoshop photoshop edit self acceptance street photography