In retrospect I couldn't believe myself when I signed up for the inaugural Photography Workshop which took place in Dublin last weekend. It all flashed in very quickly- I was tagged on the workshop's ad on Facebook, saw a comment written by a friend of mine who showed kind of an interest in it and it turned out that we made it through till the end. A unique experience that was I must say.
A bit of a background of the event, it was organised by a group of Malaysian professional photographers whom some flew all the way from Malaysia and some were already based in Europe, namely Dublin. The rendezvous was the Malaysian Hall, Dublin, where as per the organiser as the workshop involved students there was no cost incurred to use the hall. The number of participants was not that many, in fact I was expecting more to be in. Having said that though I thought that was a great advantage for us/me really 'cause we were then subjected to undivided attention! ;).
Malaysian Hall, Dublin
Those who participated came from all walks of life with varied age and knowledge on photography. In fact not all of us had DSLRs, some appeared with those obviously less-bulky compact digital cameras but certainly we all had something in common- a passion in photography.
Well, to admit myself as having a deep passion in photography is somewhat an overstatement though. I made up my mind to register for the workshop on the grounds that that was what I had been longing for, as in I have always wanted to find someone who could all along teach me how to properly and efficiently use that photo-capturing machine. I bought my Canon Rebel 450D Silver off the Ebay Canada nearly 2 years ago following my fascination over my friends' fabulous photos captured using DSLRs. And guess what, owning a DSLR on it own isn't a short cut to jaw-dropping photos. You like it or not you still got to possess that skill and knowledge in operating and manipulating the device, plus I believe aptitude as well holds an influential role in ensuring a remarkable shot is produced.
Dubliners
All these while I couldn't manage to utilise my DSLR to its maximum capability. My pictures look as if they were taken using that ordinary compact digital camera. Pathetic. Disappointingly having gone through the camera manual from page to page for a couple of times already still didn't get me to master the photography skill that well which made me strongly believe that certain knowledge just need to be taught too rather than by simply reading them. (This is obviously only applicable to me). Of course of hundreds of pictures I've captured I might have 'accidentally' taken a few beautiful shots as well but in essence I didn't reckon that I 'recognised' my camera very well still that there must have been a lot more that my camera would be able to do absolutely.
I still remember the main reason why I finally decided to own a DSLR (bidding on Ebay was a pain in the neck trust me!). My aim was that I wanted to capture the beautiful nature of God's or any other interesting stuff so that I could form wallpapers out of them and put in a line or two of verses of the Quran or hadiths then make them available on the internet for free. Isn't that grand? ;) I want to draw people to realise that even with the nature around us we can reflect how amazing the creations are thus how Powerful Almighty Allah, The Creator is. Unfortunately this aim hasn't come across just YET.
"Indeed, in the creations of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of the night and the day are signs for those of understanding- who remember Allah while standing or sitting [lying] on their sides and give thought to the creation of the heavens and the earth, [saying], "Our Lord, You did not create this aimlessly; exalted are You [above such a thing]; then protect us from the punishment of the Fire."[Ali Imran, 3:190-191]
As I stepped my feet into the Malaysian Hall I could quickly tell the difference of that particular event I was attending with the other events I had been to before. Having been to quite a good number of ceramahs (religious talks) and usrahs and everything, the workshop had its own uniqueness especially with regard to its participants. It somehow got into me that these are the people that we are going to be surrounded with when we are back in Malaysia.
In reality our community consists of all walks of life where we are certainly different, one to another. Some are rich while some are not. Some are religious while some are trendsetters who couldn't care less about the basic rules of Islam. We can't expect people to be too ideal in our eyes and so choose to stay away them after knowing whatever their background is. Isn't it not quite right if we are bound to believe that we must and have to only be with 'religious' people all the time, create our own clan that we refuse to mingle with the rest? I personally don't think that is a good idea.
Say after graduation we might plan to remain abroad working as a doctor cum continuing with the religious activities, usrah and all of that in the aim of reintroducing people to the beauty of Islam. That is excellent, really is. But I'm afraid we have to also bear in mind that that might as well be far too idealistic for our long term reach. After all Malaysia is our home country and that is where we belong, the place where we're going to have to come back to be it sooner or later.
Getting to know these 'unique' people at the workshop has taught me to look at a different angle of life. They made good friends, they were very nice and generous at sharing knowledge and experiences especially on photography. And their chef d'oeuvre was just marvellous that I thought were they gifted or what? Subhanallah.
However I can't emphasize more that wherever we are whichever situation we are in we ought to build our own principle and hold fast to it. Don't easily get too carried away or weaken down by sweet words uttered what more if it's the religion we are talking about. Islam is indeed, flexible but there are certain components of it that we just can't compromise such as the tauhid and like I said, the basic requirements and rules of the religion such as the prayers. I believe good daies are not those who choose to unnecessarily stay away from the community when they are not the type that they favour. In fact good daies are those who are able to keep their faith unshaken come what may and are able to exhibit admirable attitude whomever they be with. They somewhat become a person people would respect and look up to. Subsequently this way would contribute into people to therefore respect the religion too and have interest in knowing more about the true colours of Islam.
So now perhaps it's my time to present what I have learnt over the 2-day workshop, in the form of pictures. Though I'm afraid my baby steps are still to small to arrive at the professional stage of photography. Practice makes perfect doesn't it? ;)
May Allah let us benefit the talents that He has given us, in His way.
"O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you people and tribes that you may know one another. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you. Indeed, Allah is Knowing and Acquainted."
[Al-Hujurat, 49:13]
In reality our community consists of all walks of life where we are certainly different, one to another. Some are rich while some are not. Some are religious while some are trendsetters who couldn't care less about the basic rules of Islam. We can't expect people to be too ideal in our eyes and so choose to stay away them after knowing whatever their background is. Isn't it not quite right if we are bound to believe that we must and have to only be with 'religious' people all the time, create our own clan that we refuse to mingle with the rest? I personally don't think that is a good idea.
Islam booth on O'Connell Road in the midst of Dublin City
Say after graduation we might plan to remain abroad working as a doctor cum continuing with the religious activities, usrah and all of that in the aim of reintroducing people to the beauty of Islam. That is excellent, really is. But I'm afraid we have to also bear in mind that that might as well be far too idealistic for our long term reach. After all Malaysia is our home country and that is where we belong, the place where we're going to have to come back to be it sooner or later.
Getting to know these 'unique' people at the workshop has taught me to look at a different angle of life. They made good friends, they were very nice and generous at sharing knowledge and experiences especially on photography. And their chef d'oeuvre was just marvellous that I thought were they gifted or what? Subhanallah.
Dublin City
However I can't emphasize more that wherever we are whichever situation we are in we ought to build our own principle and hold fast to it. Don't easily get too carried away or weaken down by sweet words uttered what more if it's the religion we are talking about. Islam is indeed, flexible but there are certain components of it that we just can't compromise such as the tauhid and like I said, the basic requirements and rules of the religion such as the prayers. I believe good daies are not those who choose to unnecessarily stay away from the community when they are not the type that they favour. In fact good daies are those who are able to keep their faith unshaken come what may and are able to exhibit admirable attitude whomever they be with. They somewhat become a person people would respect and look up to. Subsequently this way would contribute into people to therefore respect the religion too and have interest in knowing more about the true colours of Islam.
So now perhaps it's my time to present what I have learnt over the 2-day workshop, in the form of pictures. Though I'm afraid my baby steps are still to small to arrive at the professional stage of photography. Practice makes perfect doesn't it? ;)
May Allah let us benefit the talents that He has given us, in His way.
