saifulrizan

It was another successful rugby game held in Labuan - when we have to consider it's the only rugby tournament in Labuan which involved participant team coming from outside Labuan. I was there on the 4th July since the morning and later joined by Izraai, Ervyn, Manjuzri, Riedznan and Syed Nasir.

This time around I tried to stay on certain location because I tried to get the picture I've wanted. The idea was to tight frame on-going action and perhaps a bit of candid during the game. If you ask, I brought my Konica Minolta 70-210mm f4.5 - 5.6 to the game. I have no 2.8 lens, but in the future I will - just let the savings do the talk purchase ya.

Rugby is a game of gentlemen - if played correctly. Besides, it's a game that action-packed, fast pace and sometimes a bit gritty when it comes to battle of the best. In this game, player don't pretend to fell on the ground and play the role of injury primadona. It's real. Dislocated shoulder , muscle pain and I still remember a team mate of ours, fell to the ground when he felt the pain in chest and later hospitalized for about two days. He felt better but he got to stop playing for at least 6 months or a year, couldn't recall. For that amount of time spent off the field, the health plan from Blue Cross NC got to be worth it!

I myself couldn't lift my right hand above my shoulder although it's not a dislocated-shoulder simptom. Being said so, rugby is not entirely a dangerous game. As mentioned earlier, it's a gentlemen game if played correctly. Back then I was just another ambitious player with fire raging inside my chest and regularly spewed curse on everyone - that's me being a dick. It's not professional.

Forward to now - I prefer to stay outside the pitch and documenting the game through photography. At least I still contribute to the rugby scene. I am thinking of using the picture as promotion material for next year Labuan 10s as the plan was not executed properly this year - thanks to my day job, finally I know it's really fun to play outside. Daily pampering of air-conditioning and juggling papers, pen and papers and pen motivated me to do something to leave the job. But that is another story.

Photographing rugby game is simple. Few crucial points to highly noted - line out, try, conversion, ruck and the best of all, tackling. If you know where those mentioned above will take place, you are all set and what's left now is the camera setting. Extra points to be noted: player slapping other player, referee giving out a red and yellow card, expression of spectator or supporter on their favorite team and many other unexpected things.

I really hope that I will get a chance to photography Borneo 10s as there will be heaps of international act, and of course, more fast paced action packed super gritty game to be watched. That or I need to buy a 2.8 lens first.

Apart from photography, I write. That’s why I still keep this blog – the only place where I can write about silly things and if I am ok, I will write about serious things. Yeah, sort of.

It is a sort of therapy that everyone can afford. Blogspot, Wordpress, Xanga; just to name a few, are part of the blogging world in which it provides free platform in sort of blog for aspiring writers or in my case, slacker writer. Simple and easy to use, it’s a new thing after stalking peoples in Friendster. At least this is better.

I never take writing seriously. Back then, I only write when I was in a boarding school. I was placed in a secondary school in Johor Bahru, Johor and the cheapest method of communication is to write a letter to my parents or some friends whom studied in another state. I still remember I spent about RM 5.00 so I can make a 3-minute phone call. What a sucker! E-mail was not popular back then, it was exclusive to those who can afford to pay for dial-up subscription and regular to cyber café.

Being boys, especially in a school where attitude is number three after popularity and academic achievement, writing a letter or articles or poems or novels or anything that related to pen and paper is however a sort of sin. It’s not popular, and only those who can stand being target of sarcastic clowns whom wearing a jacket with big letter B on it. Besides, I was in Commerce stream, though I wish I could be in an Art stream. So there was no urgency to sharpen my writing skills.

There’s one night where the whole town black out – that includes the hostel as well. While everyone sneaking out from the hostel, or forming a group and talk bulls**t like nobody cares, I sat in the room with another two guys. We share a candle so I can somehow write a poems (I was heavily inspired by the Rage Against The Machine lyrics) and those two can read their comics. The power outage lasted till 3 in the morning. I wrote 4 poems and none of those are crap – until I realized I wrote too much about climbing a mountain and playing guitar on top of it. That’s crap!

I still love writing. The writer changed. In a good time, I will put more focus on presenting points and support it with something concrete. In bad time, I will simply stroke some letters and there you go, a blog post full of hatred and death wish. That is why everyone should keep in their mind to read their post twice before pressing the Publish Now button.

I will keep writing – even if it is just another crap with mountain and guitarist in it.