The Silent Room

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Small Talk:
Goddamn, the net is fucking terrible. Is it still the APCN2 issue? I can’t even download my assignments!

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Sometimes when I have the time to go and spend a leisurely day doing some street photography, I would find myself shooting somewhere I’m not supposed to. Occasionally, some security guard would come and tell me to go away. After getting the shots I wanted, I would just smile and walk away. Of course, it was a stress-free day and there wasn’t much losses.

Some time last month, my class received a photography assignment, and one of the requirements was that a set of portraits must be shot with one talent and a historical or significant building in the background. This is the part of the assignment that gets troublesome because there needs to be a talent and a goddamn building. So I thought of shooting a silat practitioner in front of an old, traditional Malay house.

After asking (and driving) around, I found this very beautiful Malay-styled house, right in the middle of Kuala Lumpur. Apparently it is a heritage site, a replica of the house that belonged to Penghulu Abu Seman, a village head from a long, long time ago. The house is a private property, so I only thought it decent to ask for the owners’ permission. After the all, the management office is just next door.

Strangely enough, I couldn’t get permission to shoot the house as a background. I was told by one of the staff that any photography must be ‘about the house, it’s cultural history and architectural values’ and that using it as a background is not appropriate – or so the property owner claims.

The screwed up part about all this is that we (Syafiq – my talent – and I) suffered an attack by HUNDREDS of mosquitoes, and we had to leave with nothing. Frustrated, I thought of going to Putrajaya and try my luck there. Don’t ask me why, it was me acting on anger and gut feelings. I then got to Taman Warisan Pertanian, which is literally a park dedicated to agricultural heritage.

After walking through a small fruit orchard, I found exactly what I wanted: a traditional Malay house, a replica of what is supposedly a small-time rubber tapper. After a few phone calls, I arranged for the shoot and got the shots I wanted and I didn’t have to deal with any permission-seeking people.

Recently, we received another assignment, which is similar but a lot trickier than the last one. This time around, I wanted to look for abandoned buildings – places a fugitive would run to. I remember seeing a few at Sentul Park so I decided to check that out. Sure enough, I found a lovely place just a few minutes from the entrance and it had EVERYTHING I wanted.

I spent about 30 minutes shooting there by myself, composing, gathering ideas of where to place my talent and everything went without a hitch. Unfortunately, it rained that morning, so I had to postpone the shoot to the evening.

Later that day, I arrived with Syafiq and we tried to have a shoot there. Not even 5 minutes in, a security guard approached us and told us to go away, that the abandoned house was a ‘private property’. I could hardly believe it, looking at the poor condition of the building and all.

After the guard walked away, we kept on shooting for a while. After another 15 minutes or so, the damn guard came back and we quickly packed our stuff and left. I figured that maybe I should get some kind of written permission from the management office (which was visible from where the building was). So I went there today, and guess what they told me?

“We used to allow public photography there, but then the *insert bigshot company name* HQ told us to no longer allow it.”

Okay, what the fuck la? It’s a goddamn abandoned building! It’s worn down, it’s unoccupied, it’s useless, it’s not generating any profit – it’s not like the place was being rented out to some goreng pisang stall or some shit. All I’m gonna use the building for is to shoot my goddamn assignment so I can pass and move on. It’s not like I’m doing some kind of commercial wedding photography or anything.

Seriously, man. What the fuck? The Penghulu house, I understand. The owner invested millions to buy the land and build/maintain the house as part of a cultural heritage exhibit and a tourist attraction – I’m cool about the fact that you simply want to protect your personal interest.

But this? A broken, empty, hollow building? It’s just SITTING THERE. Charge me 5 bucks or something (that was the fee to enter the orchard in Putrajaya, by the way), the only use that crappy building has is photography aesthetics because it’s got plenty of interesting patterns and textures but THAT’S IT.

Anyone who would be interested in the Sentul Park property knows damn well which company owns it and what is being done there. It’s not like KLPAC and the gardens around it are hidden from the public, anyway. What’s wrong with letting photographers use the crappy old building that’s just standing there mossing away doing nothing? It’s not like I cut through a fence and leapt over a wall to get there. You can just walk to the damn place and I even nicely asked for permission to use it. I’m not even gaining any profit from it, for God’s sake.

Desperate and annoyed, I went to the Pekeliling Flats. As many seasoned photographers know, that place is creepy as hell, but it’s got just what I need. We’ll have to see how it goes this weekend. I hope everything goes well and safe.