“You can’t wait until life isn’t hard anymore before you decide to be happy”, Jane Marczewski (Nightbirde). 

Everyone of us had own issues, problems and situations to manage, handle and resolve, we all have our ups and downs. Life is never easy, some had it tougher than others. Personally, I had my fair share of ups and downs, however last year 2021 was one of my most difficult periods, mentally and emotionally, there were huge struggles on both personal and professional aspects. I am still struggling (lesser as compared to 2021), I wasn’t happy even though I don’t show it on my facial expressions.

Recalling Nightbirde’s quote, we can choose and decide to be happy. A gentle reminder, a wake up call, I can choose and decide to be happy. This is not going to be an instant change, first and foremost, I am making the decision to be happy, while facing all the incoming headwinds and challenges head on.

Jane Marczewski (Nightbirde) passed away on 19th February 2022, her voice, words, positivity and courage will always be remembered. 

Rest in peace, Nightbirde.

The post Decide to be Happy appeared first on TGH Photography and Travel Portal/Blog.

As we enter into the final month of Year 2021, I would also like to share some photo stories and happenings that took place over the past few months. 

First and foremost

First and foremost, while there had been immense difficulties emotionally, mentally and financially for this year 2021.

I want to take this opportunity to be thankful and grateful, with utmost gratitude, humility and kindness to all who have helped me and pulled me out from my rut, those who supported, encouraged and believed in me during this very difficult year 2021. Let’s be kind, compassionate and spread love. 

Please do not judge, none of us are having an easy time during this battle against this ongoing global pandemic situation.

Help each other if you are able to

We are entering into a brand new year 2022 soon, this year would not exactly be a smooth sailing year as we are still grappling and battling this ongoing global pandemic situation. Let’s work on getting our life, our business and our work back on track, hoping that we can restart our recovery proper. 

Help each other if you are able to, support fellow local small and medium sized business, they are the ones who are most severely affected by this ongoing pandemic induced economic crisis. 

Gifts from lucky draws

Since I missed my Japan travel so much, I am following Japan Rail Cafe and Hokkaido Government Representative Office FB pages on a regular basis. They had a few travel events held online, it was good to take away some of my travel wanderlust for Japan. There were lucky draws held during the online travel events and I was lucky to win some gifts from their lucky draws! 

Pay-It-Forward and Pass-It-On

I discovered my passion for cooking during my UQ uni days, as part of my subject curriculum and for my daily living/meals. I do not deny that I had been slacking over the decades after finishing my studies. However, I rediscovered this cooking/roasting passion of mine again when the pandemic hit us in 2020. 

Cooking haJs a mix of therapeutic activities for me as well as being practical, having home cooked meals whenever I am able to do so, instead of eating out or having take away all the time. 

I have been doing some roasting in recent weeks, two of my favourite food, roast pork a.k.a. sio bak and char siew pork. They are works-in-progress, learning from my mistakes at each cooking/roasting, making improvements in my next roasting. During the Christmas festive week, I hope to Pay-It-Forward and Pass-It-On, with my roast pork and char siew pork delights, along with some other dishes on the back of my mind too. 

Reward myself once a while

I don’t usually buy many things, once a while I would buy some things for myself, it’s nice to reward myself once a while. I am planning to add a Japanese gyuto knife a.k.a. Chef Knife into my cooking/chef setup.

All I want to do 

Be happy, take care of myself more, be less mentally and emotionally burnt out like this photo of me rocking alone on the playground (it’s a posed photo by the way). 

Spread the message of love, care and compassion, for Earth, our natural environment, for our loved ones, for myself. 

Coming soon in January 2022

Coming soon in January 2022, I would be publishing and launching my second photography zine, this photography zine is a mix of therapy and playbook coming together. I am also working on getting my first NFT photography artwork minted and listed. More details would be shared along the way leading up to January 2022, stay tuned!

Last but not least

Last but not least, it’s an open call every year during the month of December: Anyone would like to buy me a 2-in-1 Christmas (December) + Birthday (January) gift?

The post Bring a very difficult year 2021 to a close on a high appeared first on TGH Photography and Travel Portal/Blog.

Prior to this “bring LOVE everywhere” test walk 2 on 6th November 2021, I recently visited Malay Heritage Centre recently to photograph an earlier light artworks by VSE on display. Malay Heritage Centre had collaborated with Very Small Exhibition to light up the facade of its main building in different hues of blue in support of World Mental Health Day on 10th October 2021, while Malay Heritage Centre’s annex buildings were lighted up with the art collective’s signature neon colour lights.

After photographing a beautiful sunset at East Coast Park, Belinda and myself waited for Very Small Exhibition to arrive at East Coast Park White Jetty. From a distance, you can’t miss the bright and colourful 4 letter words “LOVE” making its way into the East Coast Park heartlands. 

This marked the start of an hour of interaction with the LOVE light artwork, doing light painting around the LOVE artwork, bringing them into a new dimension and realm, with supporters coming down to pen their love messages on the LOVE sticker and pasting them on the LOVE light artwork. 

Those moments were bright and colourful, spreading love, and asking ourselves, what is love, what does it mean to you, what are the messages that you would like to write down and send to your family, loved ones, relatives and friends? It was a quiet moment for me, and for some of us too, as we reflect on LOVE, its importance, relevance and how we can spread the message of LOVE, especially during this past close to two years (and counting) of great difficulties to our daily living and work due to the ongoing global pandemic. Many of us suffered in many different ways or another, some more than others. How can LOVE plays a part to help people in whatever ways possible during this great difficulty period that has affected us mentally, emotionally and financially? 

During a quiet moment inside me, I was immersed in creating the light painting while Belinda was photographing my light painting artworks, my heart was thinking about this topic too. As I was penning down my message for “bring LOVE everywhere”, I asked myself:

Q:What is Love? 

A: Love is of Fate and Time.

Love is of Fate and Time, I wrote and published a photo story article “Fate and Time” back in June 2021, my article title and the story inside speaks for itself, my heartfelt answer to the question above. That period of time, coupled with other situations happening concurrently, was a very down period. For those who wish to know what could have happened, this paragraph would shed more light.     

While Belinda and myself were at East Coast Park White Jetty, we got to know supporters who were also waiting for Very Small Exhibition “bring LOVE everywhere”. Nice to meet cheryllovescake and dototo13! They joined us in our light painting photography shoot too! We connected via Instagram later, after Very Small Exhibition continued with their journey along East Coast Park. 

Through Belinda and cheryllovescake sharing on their Instagram posts and stories, their sharing of love messages as well as from classic love songs, they are heartwarming, positive and encouraging, something that is very much needed during this time for many of us out there facing our own unique challenges and difficulties, in our ongoing battle against this global pandemic. Love can give us great hope, warmth and confidence, love can also hurt us and affect us. 

Spinning out some love ballads from my Spotify, these classic LOVE rock ballads pop into my mind, “All You Need is Love” by Beatles, “More Than Words” by Extreme, “Love is not the Way” by Saigon Kick and one of my favourite songs by Queen “Love Of My Life”. Not forgetting, “温柔”, ”擁抱“, “心中無別人” from another of my favourite rock bands 五月天!   

Do support local artists whenever possible, Pay-It-Forward and Pass-It-On, spread the word for them, giving them more publicity and awareness. I would give them a shout out, cover their stories and artworks as and when I am able to do so. Throughout the years writing and publishing photo stories here on my TGH Photography and Travel portal/blog, I met a number of creative, talented and passionate local artists through various events such as i Light Singapore and Singapore Night Festival. 

In January 2022, Very Small Exhibition is challenging themselves to their limit, bringing LOVE one round around Singapore in 6 consecutive nights. Let’s all help to spread some LOVE, warmth and friendship together with Very Small Exhibition. 

Very Small Exhibition

Website: www.verysmallexhibition.com 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/verysmallexhibition/ 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/verysmallexhibition 

What is Love? Love is everywhere, it’s around us, from our family, loved ones or friends, sometimes we just lost it because we are too close deep inside that we don’t realise it. Love, however, sometimes it’s about fate and time as well. 

No matter what level and stage of Love you are at right now, that’s something we can all do together for a common good, let’s bring LOVE everywhere and unite together stronger, closer, care and help one another as we are still battling this global pandemic situation, a common goal as we seek the light at the end of the tunnel filled with love, joy and a return to a more normal life.

Let’s #BringLoveEverywhere!

The post Bring LOVE everywhere by Very Small Exhibition appeared first on TGH Photography and Travel Portal/Blog.