This morning was beautiful, and  I headed out at 8:30 am to the nearby Kuala Lumpur City Park (KLCC), armed with my camera and 85mm lens to take some portraits.

My aim was ten portraits, and to photograph people using natural light only. My desire was to approach strangers and ask for their portrait, and then ask them for a few minutes to ask a couple of questions.

In reality ten portraits was too ambitious. I was at the park for ninety minutes and spent time with people enjoying conversations, listening to their stories and sharing some details from my own story. Having this exchange is far better, and more interesting than speed shooting and collecting random portraits of strangers.

The questions I posed were influenced by a recent ‘Chase Jarvis 30 Days of Genius’ interview I watched with Michael Meade – storyteller and author of The Genius Myth.

QUESTIONS:

What makes you happy?

What is your gift to the world?

Everyone I approached was open to having their portrait taken and answering my questions.

Intan – from Kedah – Northern Malaysia.

Finds happiness when spending time with her husband, and caring for her family.

With a family of five boys and four grandchildren she has lots of opportunity to be happy, and her caregiving is the gift she gives to the world.

Almadira believes happiness is a state of mind, she likes being with friends and family, especially her mum and this is when she feels happiest.

She is studying law and is close to graduating. Her gift to the world is to contribute to the betterment of the condition of people by using her career based skills and training.

Sarasvathi – from India

Being with her first grandchild gives her a lot of happiness. She’s recently joined a Brahma Kumaris Meditation Yoga group and wants to love the world more, and be more loving to people – this is her gift.

I’m grateful to Intan, her husband and son, Almadira, Sarasvathi and her family for spending time with me today.

Thank you.