The Fruit Market

The first port of call would be the fruit market. It was newly renovated and the whole place appeared new compared to the last time we came to visit.

According to the vendors, the new market had only been opened last July. They were nearly arranged in rows and very spacious. One thing that was very obvious was how clean the place was.

A bit of TLCColourful

The vendors were friendly and were smiling away. Some asked about what we were up to and we told them that it was a yearly thing that the get together for this sort of a hunt. Some of them were reluctant to have their photos taken, and we completely understood.

Glorious petai

He was muttering away ....

Of course we didn't take pictures at the area which did some copied products. There were also a thriving business of gold-plating jewelleries around the place.

The fruits there were nice and fresh, much better compared to the local supermarkets. No durians though. Those were sold outside the market...

Nangka ....The lights in there was fantastic. The new building allowed for natural lights to enter from high above, all at an angle giving nice, soft light. It was still early afternoon and it didn't feel warm. A perfect place to do photography. Shame that I didn't have a telephoto lens with me at the time.

The Route

The route this time around was straight forward although the catch was the point and the end were different. They were about a couple of kilometers apart.

We met at Shazz Restaurant, a Mamak outlet behind the old Batu Road. The scheduled meet up was 8.30 for breakfast before setting off at 9. Luckily I made it just in time.

After the briefing and if course the group photo, we went through Chow Kit market. We first entered the dry part which was recently opened after renovation. Excellent lights in there and that formed the bulk of the walk.

We then exited the market via the older wet part where things could get messy. We then walked towards Safuan Plaza on the other end, before joining Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman proper towards Maju Junction, passing by a few restaurants.

My group stopped for some food at Capital Café, opposite Sogo before turning left towards the end point at Semua House. Again some of us had biryani but I gave that a miss after having a drink at the last stop.

After lunch, I walked through Masjid India to take the LRT at the Masjid Jamek stop to get to my car parked at Nu Sentral.

Meeting the Gang

Group photowalks usually served a couple of purposes. The first was very obvious. To relief the craving most keen photographers had, to shoot. Certain quarters of town were also rather unsafe to be ventured alone. A small group would be better and what was better was if some members of the groups were familiar with the surroundings. We could then concentrate on what to shoot and felt safe in a group.

Cousin Adi and MuraliThe second was to meet up with all friends. And the recent Scott Kelby photowalk certainly offered that as some of the group members only met each other once a year. And when we meet, we eat. More on that later ....

The combination of the two was the reason why every year I made plans - including cancelling clinics - to join up.

This year, the event happened last weekend. About 50 photographers turned up in our group - there was another group meeting at the other side of town. We met at Chow Kit, and we plotted a route from there, through he famous market to end at Masjid India.

Somebody decided to take the bikeMore makanAnd talking about cameras of course ...Being a post-call day, I did not plan to be adventurous. I started my rounds early, parked my car at Nu Sentral and took the Monorel to join up with the group in Chow Kit at a mamak shop for breakfast.

Ripi giving a briefing at the start of the walk .... in 360 degrees ...

A group photo and briefing ensued before the main group left for the market. I stayed back with a couple of friends to have some food before walking into the market.

Starting Off

Was on call last night and the only way I could make it to the Kelby Photowalk today would be to start super early. And I did just that.

I was already in the ward at 6.30, got all my admissions and referral sorted out by 8 am. I drove straight to Nu Sentral and parked my car there.

I was in the Monorel, around Bukit Bintang heading to the meeting place at Chow Kit. Another 6 stops I think. Will be having breakfast straight away. I was starving!!!

To Japan with Shazni

One of my photographer friend, Shazni had a solo journey last winter to the land of the "Land of the Rising Sun". Not the first time that he travelled solo, but as far as I knew this was the first time that he published photographs from such trips.

This time around the photos came in a nice little package. He published a book called "A Little Bit of Japan". And I got it delivered to my apartment this afternoon.

I got it personally autographed. It may be worth millions in the future!Plus a postcard from JapanIt was better than expected in terms of content and quality. The curation was smooth and the photos flowed from one page to the next. It was not the thickest of book but for a first effort, it made you wonder what he would come up next. I think he could do with having a show of his prints in a gallery in the future. I certainly am looking forward to that.

How do get hold of one. At the moment, you would have to contact him directly through this link. Email him on shaznizainal@gmail.com if you want to get hold of him.