It was a good year

Ending abruptly. For good reason, hopefully.

By gent

December 31^st, 2019

What do I even make of 2019?

This was supposed to a year of restoration to my health and mental well-being. I made some progress.

I was meant to put a hold on my career to do what I need to, and love. It went okay.

I wanted to spend more time with my dog and I did a whole lot. He got sick a couple but I also faced up to the fact that buddy got old. He's alright.

I wanted to take more photographs but of course my last camera died. I'm somehow ending the year with a couple more lenses and cameras than I dared to have imagined having - very very kind friends lent them to me - and I managed to take more photos than I'd planned.

Here are some of my favourites of the year. They're not the best photos, they're just my favourites.

It's going to be a very long scroll, this one.

National Service came to an end

After 13 years, we finally completed our very last duties (touch wood) as soldiers. These are people I shed literal blood and tears with over an entire decade and I wouldn't swap them for anyone else.

It was only fitting to see some of their children come to our final parade. Weird, only because none of us expected any of us to be fathers, knowing full well each other's bullshit, but fitting.

Special Olympics Football

Through Boothype, I had a chance to meet with Syakira and Rauqah, both of whom are Unified Partners and participate in the many activities organised by the Special Olympics in Singapore. It's incredibly humbling to be in the presence of youths with so much heart at such early stages of their lives and I was so glad they were comfortable to open up eventually for us to capture their jovial personalities.

I'd also got to meet a special athlete Pin Yun, who with his team, took home a 7-0 win. He expresses himself mostly through the sport of football, so to no surprise, I found out more about him through interactions with his teammates and friends, and his father Raymond, all of whom are supportive of each other to a fault.

It was only one morning, but their drive and passion through difficulties I cannot even imagine really gave me a lot of insight to simply being a better person.

Read more about this special occasion here > https://boothype.com/2019/09/02/football-with-the-special-olympics/

Sometimes I get great stuff at work

I won't go into details, but at work this year, I scored some successes and somehow get to work with great brands.

The new Logitech G604 is absolutely my favourite mouse in years, and this was true even before I got one of my own.

Taiwan for a week

I got to be at Taipei this year for work and some time for myself. Got myself an incredible Moment lens for my iPhone X and had a blast.

Hideo Kojima

Through some friends at work, I also get to meet with people you don't normally get access to. One of them is the inimitable Hideo Kojima who was on his World Strand Tour across the region for his game, Death Stranding. It's a spectacular experience.

This might be one of the highlights of my life.

Read more about this special occasion here > https://geekculture.co/death-stranding-connecting-the-dots-with-hideo-kojima-in-singapore/

Google Pixel 4

Somehow, I got hold of a Google Pixel 4 and got to play around with its camera for about 2 weeks.

I was in a creative rut and it came in timely fashion. The visual experiment around Singapore proved really satisfying.

My favourites

I can't go a day without being thankful for my absolute favourite person around me and my dog. They're incredibly special to me in my struggles this year and I simply do not have the words to express myself time and time again.

Possibly my favourite work this year

It's no secret that I love children. They're unpredictable, they're mostly adorable, and I love that they are not tarnished by realities of life.

Most importantly children have the biggest capacity for imagination and expression of love.

They move, and they move you.

We need much more of this.

I was fortunate enough to have been offered this gig to shoot kids in their natural states of curiosity and joy, and I honestly couldn't have been happier.

There'a a lot of this, but we need more.

Thank you.

I can't believe you got here, but thank you.

2019 isn't ending the way I expected it to, with some major curveballs thrown my way even in the last few days, but somehow some of you are sticking around.