Sunday Afternoon in Town

It has been a while since I had the chance to get my camera out for a free spin. It was a Sunday and frankly, I had done my chores and was looking forward to a quick lunch with Anita. I had some time after lunch for a quick walk.

After late lunch at Pavilion, I took the M-P out around Bukit Bintang. The weather was not too inviting and to be frank, it was threatening to rain all afternoon. Not exactly conducive for a photowalk, but I must not complain.

There was nothing much going on there at the moment. I guessed, with Ramadhan coming up soon, the decor would be gearing up to that. Anita did her shopping, while I just hang around for a while. I was too lazy to walk all the way to Low Yat, and soon turned back. I settled for a quiet coffee instead.

500px Photowalk Architecture

I was not feeling much inspired that morning and coupled with the poor weather, I did not hang around for too long.

But there was enough time for me to do a bit of urban architecture shots.

Due to the poor visibility, I used my Ricoh GR in monochrome mode which allowed me to capture the grim mood. KL appeared to be like Gotham at that rate. Nice to appreciate the city and certainly the cityscape would continue to change as the city grows, finding its identity.

Laman Standard Chartered

Coordinate 3.156266,101.710465

That would probably the best way to describe where the place it. I discovered it during the recent 500px photowalk, located right next to Suria KLCC near the Mandarin Oriental entrance.

What was there? A piece of greenery with plenty of trees right in the middle of town, shielded from the stress of the streets nearby. Only a 5 minutes stroll to Suria, but it appeared miles away. More secluded than the often crowded KLCC Park, and the trees provided a nice shade from the sun while allowing the cool breeze to pass by. There were a few benches there as well as some set of stairs for you to take a breather while having some latte maybe.

A quick internet search did not shed any light into the place. There was a small Facebook page but with not much detail. I read that there may have been some art event taken place there, but again, not much was learned. Maybe somebody wanted to keep it hidden and tranquil. But I was glad that I found it ...

The 500px Route

The instructions were given. The group photos were posed. Breakfast was done. So, it was time to get on with the walk. So, how was the route?

Put it this way, if I was the one organising the walk, I would've picked this particular one. To put it mildly, it was uninspiring. It was basically one round loop, with clear instructions to only venture off once we met up at the end of the formal walk. I could have finished the route in 30 minutes, and we had close to 4 hours before the designated rendezvous. Too much time to kill.

So, I explored MaTIC itself for a start. Neat colonial building and this early in the morning, there was hardly anything happening there.

I then took a left along Jalan Ampang to the Jalan Sultan Ismail turn opposite Renaissance Hotel. A bit of street work, building site and architecture. The Bukit Nanas Monorel Station had a bit of colour.

Next up, we walked along Jalan Sultan Ismail, passing by Hard Rock Cafe and did an anti-clockwise turn joining Jalan P Ramlee walking towards KLCC passing by a few more buildings.

The whole group then congregated by Laman Standard Chartered, a nice little piece of greenary smack in the middle of town next to KLCC. First time discovering this place, it was actually quite nice and tranquil.

We then noticed that the air quality dropped and the haze started coming in. I escaped towards Suria KLCC, with the plan to have a quick cup of coffee. I walked towards the famous fountain at KLCC Park and the visibility had dropped considerably by then.

Since I parked the car there, I decided to split and drove home. Might as well spend the rest of the morning with the family. There would be another photowalk coming next weekend, so I might as well just safe my energy for that one ...

The combination of uninspired route, poor air quality and too big a crowd put me off in the end, but it didn't mean that it was the fault of the organiser. I was sure that they did their best. I route around Bukit Bintang, Chow Kit, Masjid India or Kampung Baharu would have been better I guessed. Looking at the snaps, it wasn't that bad. And photography was all about creativity. The real talent was making a scene appeared inspired. After all, anybody could pick up a camera and press the shutter!

500px Photowalk

It was the time of the year - early fall - when plenty of photowalks were organised worldwide. I got 3 in the coming few weeks alone - the 500px event, followed by Scott Kelby walk in a couple of weeks and Canon one after that. Great times to catch up with friends but it looked like the weather would be conspiring against us. The haze is back!

I attended the 500px Worldwide Photowalk yesterday, organised by a local photographer. 120 shooters turned up, starting at 8 in the morning. SOme commitment that!

It was still during the Aidil Adha break for most people - myself included. So, I packed my gear early, left the apartment at around 7.30, parking my car at Suria KLCC before taking a brisk walk to the meeting point, MaTIC along Jalan Ampang 10 minutes away. The weather? Holding. Vsibility was still good - at least I could see the top of the Petronas Twin Towers.

Registration took place near a mini theatre at the entrance of an exhibition hall. It was then that I learned that 120 people converged, and I gather that even the organiser was surprised!

It took nearly half an hour before we could get on with the introduction and the obligatory group photos. We said our hellos and I got to meet old friends and some new ones. More about the route later, but first - let's get some breakfast .....