ONE could almost evoke the salty air and the feel of the wafting sea breeze just by looking at the series of photographs of fishermen in Tg Dawai, Kedah, who battle choppy waters and all kinds of weather conditions to catch a staple found in many Malaysian households: ikan bilis. It's hard, precarious work, one that isn't particularly lucrative, but these men seem to take pride in doing it week in and week out.
The photographs were taken by freelance documentary photographer Puah Sze Ning, who spent a couple of hours with the fishermen on their boat to capture what a typical day is like for these men. Bulky nets gathered on hooks on the boat in one picture are spread out across the sea in the next. One photo shows some of the men who have to jump into the sea to tend to the nets, and the last one encapsulates what it's all about at the end of the day: a bountiful catch of tiny, shimmering fish.
In just a few simple frames, Puah manages to tell the little-known story of these intrepid fishermen in a captivating and engaging way. She says it came out of an interest to track what we eat to its source. "You take for granted when you to go supermarkets where food is available all the time," she says. "A writer friend and I were interested in tracking back to where our food comes from."
Puah's photo-essay, as well as those of seven other Malaysian photographers, was on display at The Annexe Gallery in an exhibition titled Stories Without Words. The showcase is the result of a week-long workshop held last December under the auspices of the US Embassy with award-winning documentary and editorial photographer Justin Mott. The eight lensmen, who represent a growing number of young photographers with a keen interest in social issues, were tasked to find a seldom-told story of Malaysia and tell it through pictures.
"The workshop was about learning to pitch a story — coming up with an idea, and they had to sell me on it," says Mott. "I left the whole concept to them, whether they wanted to be more conceptual or more traditional in the execution of the story… I wanted them to be creative with the process and the images. It's hard to teach in one week but the idea was to put that seed in their heads to think a little bit differently about how you would tell a story… A lot of them were taking photos that they had already taken before, and the point of the workshop was for them to go outside of that."
The process involved visualising how you would want to tell the story before you go out and shoot it, which was a new approach to some of the photographers. "I learnt that I needed to figure out the concept first and to understand the environment before I started to shoot," says Steven Goh, whose series on rescued stray dogs in the animal sanctuary, Furry Friends Farm in Kundang, Selangor, won much praise from Mott and the prize for best overall story.
"The way he sees light was quite advanced," says Mott. "To find moments with people is one thing, but he found moments with animals, and that's kind of hard to do. I thought he really captured the essence of that shelter; he brought you into their world with his perspective. He felt a little more deeply about his subject and that was what I wanted some of the other students to think about.
When he shot from a low angle, he did so because that's how dogs see it. He shot with black and white because dogs don't see colour. Those were smart things and advanced things to think about. I really admired that … He was passionate about it and everything was well thought out; everything had a purpose."
From the three-legged dog looking dolefully at you to two dogs snarling fiercely at each other over a pail of chow, and another captured performing a trick leaping in mid-air, Goh's black-and-white photographs intrigue and tug at your heart strings. The starkness of the images belies the undertone of hope at the shelter as these animals are given a chance to live out the rest of their lives in peace and with dignity.
Capturing that money shot sometimes involves persistence, as Danny Lim found out. Lim's series explores the relationship people have with rivers, taking us from a rural area in Hulu Langat to the Kuala Lumpur city centre. Lim presented a most interesting series of varied and multifaceted visuals — a couple enjoying the rushing waters gives way to an unexpectedly lyrical shot of a trash-strewn portion of the river.
Lim also takes us down to where the drainage meets the river and in a sweeping panaromic shot, shows us what it looks like under the Masjid Jamek LRT station at night. A poignant image reveals a nomad, Jinu Lusikin, who lives along the banks with his girlfriend. An artistic shot shows the choppy river and on the concrete banks, a reflection of nearby buildings in a puddle. This shot took numerous tries, Lim says. "I had to keep going back."
On the workshop with Mott, Lim says, "What was very good was that he was very demanding. It's very hard to get that kind of rigorous critique. It really pushed me to the next level." In the case of press photographer Mazlan Samion, he says he learnt to compose emotionally stirring images. His photo-essay highlights the solitary life of a lone, former leprosy patient, Ah Tong, who lives in the former leper colony in Sungai Buloh, and who still suffers from the stigma of the disease. Mazlan's sombre black-and-white images give an intimate look into Ah Tong's lonely existence.
The plight of the Orang Asli in fitting into their urban settlement in Damansara Perdana was what Azreen Madzlan chose to highlight. She focused on one Temuan family, who like many others, live in a sparsely furnished house with extended family members.
Izzat Yahaya takes us inside the home of over 20 orphans while Mahen Balal affords a voyeuristic glimpse at slumbering folks — on the train, bus, mosque, store and walkways — to paint a portrait of Kuala Lumpur as a city that is perpetually tired and perpetually tiring. Azwan Mahzan points his lens at mercantile traders, those who provide support services and civil servants, who are all part the city's identity but seem almost anonymous — his images remind us of their place in society.
This story appeared in The Edge on July 16, 2012.