Shadow

Happy Birthday Panda!
A cheerful face walked into my office one day. She is hoiyan, her pants caught my eyes.
She was here to interview for a part time art director position.
My company was struggling to find a footing as a design firm.. I couldn't afford a full time art director but badly needed creative directing. She showed me her portfolio which kept a range of creative, intelligent, well planned yet simple design works. She was a perfect fit.
Since she joined, she has sat in my room and taught me much about design, account servicing, business management, marketing, human resource management, arts in malaysia etc. etc. most importantly about life and living it.
On my birthday in 2005, she gave me a blank journal with only a few pages decorated with photos taken by her from different places. As i examined the photos I see:
Colour, sepia, black and white. Symmetrical, asymmetrical. Subjects from plants to architecture to babies. From Malaysia to Bali to China. From inside the living room to the bustling streets of KL.
Depths, rhythm, light and shade, harsh light, soft shadows, subtle to obvious. Ultra clear to the fuzzy. The single to a quad... She has done it all. Before facebook, before SLR, before iphone.
She has taught me much.. perhaps with perhaps without her knowledge. She travelled to ipoh,to penang, to kuching with me. Together we went and explore off beat places, I stayed in a backpacker's joint instead of fancy hotel, we saw cultural things or walks into lives of locals. 

The complexity in her intellect is not reflected from the simplicity in her dressing or her living. She made me looked at my world differently and led to find a group of people whom I aspire to think alike.

Today I celebrated her birthday. Sheepishly I showed up without a present. I asked her what would you like? Thinking to myself, perhaps something for her new found hobby "baking" or even Ikea vouchers. But with a voice equalled to an excited kid she told me "I want your photos, print it out big and frame it like that." pointing to the photo I hanged in my office. I am dumbfounded.. I am in shock...

Panda, you are an extraordinary person.. your creativity has surpassed art form and has intertwined into different facets of life. You are so creative and knowledgeable, so brave to challenge the norms, so generous in sharing your knowledge, all through actions and not by words. As I try to keep up.. you are already miles ahead. You said you see your shadow in my photos. Perhaps you should know I am the one chasing your shadow.

I thank you and dedicate this blog to you..

Happy Birthday Panda Yap Hoi Yan.

p.s extraordinary people touch my life everyday