Walls

Got very bored with everything in my life a few weeks ago and decided to take up my camera and shoot something. So I created this little 'photography challenge' for myself and forced myself to walk up to strangers and talk to them and ask them for a photo. The challenge only lasted for a week tbh, ahhaha. Got really busy with other shit in my life so I stopped. But I'll try to resume this when my exam officially ends. I actually took quite a few photos but not all of them were good ):

(and also forgive me for bad photoshopping skills. this is me trying to recreate a 'film photography' effect. I absolutely love how film photos look and how pretty and unique the colours always appear to be but I've yet to get my hands on a film camera. but i will one day.... when my photography skills improve and i have enough reason to spend more money on this hobby that i'm so bad at.)

So the first photo was a failed attempt of me trying to take photographs of strangers. While buying coffee I asked the baristas if I could take photos of them.  They said yes, but I could somehow sense the unwillingness? But anyway, this is the photo. Didn't have enough courage to talk to them because... they seemed unwelcoming lol. But who can I blame, they probs felt weird having a camera shoved up in their faces.

Spotted this girl while I was on the way to the hospital. Loved her hairstyle and her outfit so I decided to stop her while we were both waiting for the pedestrian lights to turn green. Also had a quick chat with her and found out that she's doing fine arts in COFA. Look at that hair though! I really want that hairstyle. But um... my hair's curly so... *dreams crushed*. I actually saw her a few days later when I was walking to uni, but sigh, I don't think she remembers me haha. 

This is another barista from another coffee shop. And this was taken right after I asked her if it was okay for me to take a picture of her. After saying  yes, she turned to her co-worker and said: "haha, she wants to take a picture of us!" I also took a couple of photos of her and her friends but sadly I didn't like them. Poor composition and all. 

While walking back home to Malaysian Hall, this girl caught my eyes. Stopped her and had a quick chat with her and found out that she's also studying in COFA! She also told me she has a Malaysian housemate (yay, malaysia represent! lol)!! And yep, I liked her style a lot! 

... and also here's a picture of some flowers in another coffee shop i went to after my hospital session.

After doing this for a few days continuously, I realize that I feel more comfortable talking to strangers than talking to people I meet everyday. Which is really bad, because this actually resulted in me having zero genuine friendships in my SG actually. I am so passive in conversations and friendships nowadays that if someone doesn't talk to me first, I'll probs never talk to them.

Well I guess the main reason behind this is that ... (sigh i hate saying this) I care too much about what people think of me. so of course it's easier to talk to strangers because after each conversation, you know that there's just a very slim chance of them remembering you and having enough time to remember/analyze whatever you tell them. And even if they do, it doesn't matter anyway because you won't be seeing them again. So it's just so easy to be honest with them and trust them with little secrets about yourself. Apart from that, I find brief conversations like these very fun. It's good to actually have the chance to break down barriers between people and just have fun talking for ~10 minutes. It's also interesting to see how they react whenever a camera's directed towards them. It was just an amazing experience and yes, I'll definitely do it when I'm back in Malaysia too.