Malaysia Wedding Photographer- Edwin Tan 追梦手记

It began with a simple gesture to contribute to the community. Now nine shutterbugs are making it their personal quest – offering time and talent – to preserve memories for the unfortunate.

TEN, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two … one! Christine Alphonse’s voice floats effortlessly above the ruckus.

Her attempt to restore calm works – at once, the excited children scramble to take their seats, settling down to form a sea of wide-eyed innocence. Only seconds ago, a young lad was making his rounds drumming on a biscuit tin-box as giggling girls and boys played tag.The day is a special one for the children of the Ti-Ratana Welfare Society in Salak South Bahru, Kuala Lumpur. Alphonse, the shelter home’s PR and event executive, has just brought nine individuals to meet the children, and they are unlike any visitor Ti-Ratana has received over the years.

Apart from having a shelter for teenage mothers and the elderly, Ti-Ratana currently cares for over 240 children, some from as young as three months. To keep everything up and running, the centre spends about RM160,000 every month – an amount sourced solely through public donation.“From my own experience, earning RM3,000 is hard enough,” Kok, 26, opines. “With the pictures that we’ve taken, we plan to organise a photo exhibition at the end of the year to help raise funds for the shelter.”While the group’s primary objective is to share the plight of the underprivileged with the public, they also want to ensure that the children have individual portraits to call their own. Canon Marketing (M) Sdn Bhd was roped in for support, and they readily agreed to provide full sponsorship for the photo printouts.“We want to make sure that all of the children get a chance to have their photos taken. That is the least that we can do as photographers,” Kok explains.

Alphonse, 33, says: “A lot of people snap photos of the children when they visit, but the kids never get any to keep for themselves. Photos are essentially memories – when the children grow up, that’s the one thing that’ll give them a glimpse of the past.”

Capturing emotions

According to Kok, what was initially a simple gesture to contribute to society has turned into something more personal – now, it is about embarking on a quest to preserve memories for the unfortunate. The group has since created a non-profit Facebook page called A.L.I.V.E., which stands for Awareness, Love, Inspire, Vision and Empathy, to document their journey with this project.Nevertheless, Tan still has his doubts as to whether everything will turn out according to plan.

“With weddings, we know what to expect; I’m seriously not sure what the outcome will be today. What keeps me inspired is the possibility that the children will look at the photos 20 to 30 years later and be reminded of their care-free years.”Having been a freelance photographer for over four years, Tan is aware of the challenges involved in organising an event of such magnitude, especially since the portrait session is only the first in a series of activities that the group has planned for Ti-Ratana.In the works is a two-day photography workshop catering especially to the young. The kids will get to learn how to work a digital compact camera and master the art of taking better photographs. After that, the participants will go on a field trip to the zoo to practise their newfound skills and engage in a friendly photography contest. If this workshop is successful, more will follow.Ti-Ratana’s co-founder, the Most Venerable Datuk K. Sri Dhammaratana, 63, believes that people know of Ti-Ratana, but aren’t aware of what is happening inside.