My father was a camera buff. He had all sorts of cameras, from small to hassleblad. During the 60’s I think you see the hassleblad more than now. We are so digitized that we can even take pictures from our hand phones.
I guess taking pictures has become a habit or just comes naturally to me, coming from a parent who loves taking pictures. He used to take pictures when we went back to our kampong and even of the lady selling petrol. Those days, it was in black & white, since colour was expensive. So, I will only get my prints in black & white which I learnt how to print myself in a dark room. I was taught how to process the negative right up to printing the pictures.
Later, during my teenage years I was too busy with exams and left it alone for quite some time. Only after my father passed away while I was waiting for my form 5 exam results did it jolt me to continue his legacy. When I take pictures I feel that I am close to him, carrying his memories with me. I remember the time when I went down the shaft at the Sungai Lembing tin mine with him; we spent hours there, him teaching me aperture, shutter speed, and seeing the beauty around us.
Everything is beautiful if only you take care to see enough. Hence, the adage “beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder”.
I learnt from my father to have a keen eye for details and to search for the beauty in the subject matter. With this in mind, as I grow older, I relate to the belief that all the things which Allah creates has its own beauty and purpose. This was how I started taking pictures of small flowers.
These flowers are usually too small to be noticed and become insignificant to us. Our religion also teaches us that Allah does not forget even our smallest minute deeds or misbehavior, and we can see this in the miniature flowers He created. They are small but they are as perfect as the big flowers and some are very fragrant. As an example; the rubber tree flowers are usually seen in a bunch or inflorescence. They have the fragrance of jasmine and are pretty in a bunch.
I know I am dabbling into botany but I realized that the function of a plant is to attract animals for pollination, and if they are small it will be either that they are very colourful or they have a strong fragrance. I also noticed that they have a unique character of their own.
The hempedu bumi flowers look like 2 men fishing, while the spider plant flower looks like a ballerina. There’s a flower with the local name subang nenek and it does look like an ear-ring of your grandmother or great grandmother.
One can say then, that our forefathers have named the plants based on their looks, and they took the time to look at the characteristics of the flowers before naming them, thus bringing the attention of the passerby to this beauty. We should learn more from the older people to actually spend time to look and learn from nature, because nature can teach us a lot of things.
My fascination with the little flowers and my hence my work, is to show our future generation the beauty that we often take for granted or not even know is there, and hence to teach them to be more careful with these delicate beauties. There’s too much development and technology that our children forget to see what is out there and we forget to show them except for the most obvious.
We can find many miniature flowers in our garden. This can be a mini project for our children. To learn to love the environment, to learn to look around for the small plants and appreciate it. My daughter has caught on to taking photographs and she is into abstract photography. This was because we travel a lot at one time taking pictures of old manuscripts, houses and museums for our research. My young son on the other hand, has taken to pick these small flowers to show me. Children are easily influenced by their parents, as a saying goes ‘they are a white piece of cloth for the parents to paint’. My husband and I are very adamant about them following us wherever we go, even if we need to pay for their fares, or to miss school. This is because our outings will give them more knowledge.
As parents, if we need to literally drag our children around for them to appreciate what we do and teach them to see the environment differently, then so be it, because they are the future of our nation.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Friday, May 22, 2009
Miniature flowers 4
Dear friends,
The flowers you see in my previous pages are miniature flowers. They are sometimes around 3mm in diameter and you need to look closely with naked eye for the details.
I took these pictures and post in this blog in the hope that all of us can appreciate the beauty of this miniature flowers.
While I had to take numerous shots for each flowers, the ones chosen is to highlight its characteristic which I find in them. Below are some of my observations:
Subang Nenek is aptly called because it does look like our grandmother’s ear rings not so long ago.
Rambutan flowers are so small that I find it important for us to appreciate its looks before eating the fruits. It has two globules like a pair of eyes with 2 snouts out of it.
Kedondong flowers looks like a triple layer cake made out of jelly.
Naga buana is a medicinal plant where the roots are crushed to make a poultice for boils , with red flowers growing underneath the leaves and look like some blood clot or nerve endings.
Ati-ati grows easily and comes in either green leaves or red leaves. The flowers are hung on a stalk and if look closely looks like medieval shoes hung for fairies to use.
Periok kera flowers are usually not seen, unlike the pitcher itself. The pitcher is used to trap food for the plants.
Cocoa is made into drinks and use for baking. But it does have medicinal value and the flowers have its own spoons on the side.
Globba pendula is a plant usually seen in the forest with flowers that remind me of a dragon.
Lengkuas or galangal we use for our cooking but the flowers too can be eaten and I believe we can learn from the inclination of its stamen for our streets lights.
Jack-in-the-bush has a bunch of flowers tied up together
Bunga pagar or usually called bunga tahi ayam have terrible smell. But the colours make up for the smell to attract animals. The buds look like a bow and it is really a mystery gift for us, humans.
Chives we eat by frying and it also gives a bouquet of flowers for us to see.
Rubber flowers come in inflorescence and have the smell of jasmine.
We see spider plants in our pots but to me it looks like a ballerina turned upside down. The stamen looks like ballet slippers.
Hempedu Bumi or andrographis paniculata is famous for its medicinal value to lower blood pressure. We usually see these flowers with spots of purple but in this case it looks like two men fishing.
I do hope you would be able to see what I see in them and maybe more. If so do write it your comments.
Thank You
The flowers you see in my previous pages are miniature flowers. They are sometimes around 3mm in diameter and you need to look closely with naked eye for the details.
I took these pictures and post in this blog in the hope that all of us can appreciate the beauty of this miniature flowers.
While I had to take numerous shots for each flowers, the ones chosen is to highlight its characteristic which I find in them. Below are some of my observations:
Subang Nenek is aptly called because it does look like our grandmother’s ear rings not so long ago.
Rambutan flowers are so small that I find it important for us to appreciate its looks before eating the fruits. It has two globules like a pair of eyes with 2 snouts out of it.
Kedondong flowers looks like a triple layer cake made out of jelly.
Naga buana is a medicinal plant where the roots are crushed to make a poultice for boils , with red flowers growing underneath the leaves and look like some blood clot or nerve endings.
Ati-ati grows easily and comes in either green leaves or red leaves. The flowers are hung on a stalk and if look closely looks like medieval shoes hung for fairies to use.
Periok kera flowers are usually not seen, unlike the pitcher itself. The pitcher is used to trap food for the plants.
Cocoa is made into drinks and use for baking. But it does have medicinal value and the flowers have its own spoons on the side.
Globba pendula is a plant usually seen in the forest with flowers that remind me of a dragon.
Lengkuas or galangal we use for our cooking but the flowers too can be eaten and I believe we can learn from the inclination of its stamen for our streets lights.
Jack-in-the-bush has a bunch of flowers tied up together
Bunga pagar or usually called bunga tahi ayam have terrible smell. But the colours make up for the smell to attract animals. The buds look like a bow and it is really a mystery gift for us, humans.
Chives we eat by frying and it also gives a bouquet of flowers for us to see.
Rubber flowers come in inflorescence and have the smell of jasmine.
We see spider plants in our pots but to me it looks like a ballerina turned upside down. The stamen looks like ballet slippers.
Hempedu Bumi or andrographis paniculata is famous for its medicinal value to lower blood pressure. We usually see these flowers with spots of purple but in this case it looks like two men fishing.
I do hope you would be able to see what I see in them and maybe more. If so do write it your comments.
Thank You
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Miniature flowers3
Subang Nenek/ear stud flower: sphenodesme pentandra
Rambutan: Nephelium lappaceum
Kedondong/Golden apple: Spondias dulcis
Naga buana: Phyllanthus pulcher
Ati-ati: Coleus blumei benthMiniature flowers 2
Periok kera/ pitcher plant: Nepenthes gracilis
Cocoa: Theobroma cacao
Globba Pendula: Globba
Lengkuas: Alphinia galanga
Miniature Flowers 1
Bunga Pagar : Lantana camara 'spreading sunset'
Kuchai : Chives
Getah: Rubber (Hevea brasiliensis)
Spider Plant:Chlorophytum bichetti
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Assalamualaikum, Welcome
Assalamualaikum dear friends,
This is my maiden journey in the blogosphere and I know I will fumble and stumble in the beginning but InsyaAllah will do better as I get along.
I started this blog with the objective to getting women from all walks in life to share their experiences with other women plus daughters and sisters.
My little experience tells me women feel better when they talk things out, it’s their way to handle stress and as a mother of 2, I want my children to learn from my experience to make them better people and not making the same mistakes or find ways to work around problems.
This blog is named Wanita or in Spanish Juanita ( pronounced the same) a tribute to all women out there. Women are the architects of nations, and intelligent mother make’s intelligent children hence the nation. Incidently, Juanita in Spanish and Hebrew means God has been gracious.
My hope that this blog will get lots of contributions from all those women out there, with the view of sharing their experiences for others to pick from.
With this I say Bismillahhirrahmanirrahim and hope it can be a success
InsyaAllah
Wassalam
Nuraini
the keeper.
This is my maiden journey in the blogosphere and I know I will fumble and stumble in the beginning but InsyaAllah will do better as I get along.
I started this blog with the objective to getting women from all walks in life to share their experiences with other women plus daughters and sisters.
My little experience tells me women feel better when they talk things out, it’s their way to handle stress and as a mother of 2, I want my children to learn from my experience to make them better people and not making the same mistakes or find ways to work around problems.
This blog is named Wanita or in Spanish Juanita ( pronounced the same) a tribute to all women out there. Women are the architects of nations, and intelligent mother make’s intelligent children hence the nation. Incidently, Juanita in Spanish and Hebrew means God has been gracious.
My hope that this blog will get lots of contributions from all those women out there, with the view of sharing their experiences for others to pick from.
With this I say Bismillahhirrahmanirrahim and hope it can be a success
InsyaAllah
Wassalam
Nuraini
the keeper.
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