What Makes You Glow?

R to L: Saiful Nang and Mukhriz
Picture above: Azwar Nik Yusoff

A glimpse of him through the glass door of his 3rd floor premise in Bandar Kinrara was enough to make you feel his contageous chirpy persona.

He seemed indulged in his phone conversation. Poncho glared at my drool and I quickly snaped out of my awe.

Too bad, I'm married and he gave us an invitation card to his wedding when we dropped by. In fact, he's already married last Saturday.

Do you remember when we were in primary school, when the teacher asked us, 'What's your ambition?' Lemme guess, the guys' answers were to be a doctor, engineer, architect, pilot, accountant --all those mind set by mummy and daddy. For the girls, our naive answers were to be a stewardess, model, doctor, lawyer, accountant. Macam tak ada jawatan lain ke dalam dunia ni? I wonder what Thomas Edison, Leonardo da Vinci, Alexandar Graham Bell's parents told them to become.

The above is just a reflection. Back to my story, we were in his gallery to collect a few of our solemnisation photos in CD format. He shared his new business idea, Poncho was deeply captured. I heard the first few sentences and continued to do back end processing. What you read in his fotopage is half the noise you get from him --but double the persona.

He was surely as speedy as a Road Runner snapping pictures. As if, actions comes before angles. I observed that through my nikah and forgotten to pretend looking virginal and demure. But when he speaks, each sentence seemed calculated, thought and screened before they're uttered, and his eyes keep sparkling and his smile would end every meaning.

I envy him and I adore his talent.

"Lebih baik kita miskin tapi buat apa yang kita suka, daripada kita miskin lepas tu kita tak suka apa yang kita kena buat.”
– Saiful Nang, President CandidSyndrome

Who'd reckon, putting pieces back together again after two business failures is not an easy feat. He borrowed a friend's camera and paid about RM400 on some equipment to offer a few friends on wedding photography with a new breath; journalist photography. That's something totally extraordinary for our culture both in the sense of the dosh we have to pay and the format of how pictures are taken.

I guess, his talent came in quite timely with the booming of free internet facilities such as digital photo portals and so on. 'T makes the surfers' desire to be infront of his camera ever more increasing and then also, it's like an epidemic. In two years, the guy and team already get to plot on the world map and the dots can actually make an obvious pattern!

"Sebenarnya minat saya yang pertama is ‘travelling’, yang kedua fotografi. Alhamdulillah, sekarang ni hobi kedua yang ‘finance’ hobi pertama saya!”

He now owns his own company, just reached his first million, finally re breed a new photography team (they're all just as talented!) and is still low down to earth.

“Kami adik-beradik datang dari Felda Triang, Pahang. Bapak kitaorang masa kitaorang kecik-kecik dulu tak pernah halang apa yang kitaorang minat nak buat. Kalau kitaorang conteng dinding, dia tak marah pun. Dia cat balik, lepas tu suruh kitaorang conteng dinding lain pulak sementara tunggu cat yang ni kering. I'm not the one with the real photography qualification. Adi Nang yang ada qualification tu. I grad dengan Degree in Film & Animation. My adik, Razi Nang pun tengah study fotografi dekat UiTM."

Maybe it's me who's with the pain. I wish I never thought I wanted to become one of the geeky norms. I wish my art pieces weren't taken away from me when I was a kid. I wish my job now makes me glow just like what it did to him, his brothers and all his crew members.

We're both blessed we're in the right generation and at the right time of our life to decide on investing on our still memories this way. Being able to have those shots is such a dream come true.












Picture above: Udey Ismail of CandidSyndrome












Selamat Pengantin Baru kembali Saiful Nang dan Dr. Intan.

Thank you Saiful Nang, Adi Nang, Mukhriz and Udey Ismail for making our wedding a beautiful memory.