PEOPLE I MET
I quote from a book The Rise of India by Niranjan Rajadhyaksha …
One of the advantages of being a journalist is that you get to meet so many people—influential people, interesting people, and (very occasionally) influential people who are also interesting. It is now more than seventeen years since I decide to quit teaching economics to undergraduates and start writing about it for a wider audience. Over this period, I have been lucky to meet a variety of people—from company CEOs and central bank governors to rural artisans and struggling entrepreneurs.
Here are some of the many influential and interesting people with whom I shared a memorable moment.
Ken Marnoch, Managing Director, Brunei Shell Petroleum at Beach Bunch Kuala Belait Beach Cleanup 2011
Dato' Sri Dr. Ng Yen Yen, Minister of Tourism, at the rehearsal of Colours of 1Malaysia 2011
Sheikh Jamaluddin, Director of Brunei Tourism, at NBT-LEXUS Golf Classic 2011.
Lily Chiam, celebrated pianist-composer, artist, good friend and a former classmate and a copy of her signed EP "Your Presence" to go with a signed copy of her first EP "Together"
Receiving a copy of AP Press Guide to Photojournalism from John McIntyre, Embassy of USA
Group photo with the legendary Joe McNally on Feb 5, 2010 (click to view large)
↑ Soprano Marie Fajtova, Prague Chamber Orchestra | Toyota Classics 2009
With the Donna Ventura ladies at the Billion Barrel Monument, Seria.
Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes, founder of Tune Group including phenomenally successful AirAsia at the ASEAN 100 Leadership Forum in Hanoi, Vietnam 2007
Malaysian songbird Amy Mastura | Toyota Classics 2008 Orchestra
Tony Tan Caktiong | Jollibee Founder, Chairman & CEO
Sean Ghazi | Toyota Classics 2007
A moment with Wu Chun of Taiwanese pop band Fahrenheit during the press conference of Fitness Zone's grand opening
Restauranteur and TV personality Bobby Chinn at the ASEAN 100 Forum in Hanoi, Vietnam
Eric Tsang—Hong Kong actor, film director and producer
↑ Lorraine Hahn Host of CNN International's TALK ASIA
Lou Macari Retired Manchester United Attacking Midfielder
Nuno Bettencourt Lead Guitarist & Founder POPULATION 1
Siti Nurhalizah @ Muhibbah Concert in Brunei Darussalam
Pakistan High Commissioner (L) & USA Chief of Mission (R) 2005
Chinese Ambassador (C), Pehin Dato Lau Ah Kok 2005
Interhouse Management with Kazuto Ogawa
Kazuto Ogawa CEO for Canon South & Southeast Asia at the Brunei EOS Product Launch
My first attempt at a photo contest
The contest was the 2004 Brunei Tourism Photo Contest and my entry was Beating in Harmony (below), my attempt at illustrating the idea of two races and two cultures co-existing harmoniously for the common good of society. My photograph made it to top ten and came in 9th spot out of four hundred entries. It was a motivating experience.
Jan,
Impressive!! Thumbs up to you & keep up the good work!!
Amazing work, accomplishments, and trail of your own version of history you’ve left. An inspiration to some and envied by many. Keep up the good work both visually and spiritually.
Jan’s hall of fame… this is what you call success in the making
To the people out there, this is world of Jan Shim.
Let’s make it happen…
Hi Jan
Im sure one day u will be one the famous people that your fans will have the opportunity to photograph with u instead..yeahhh! ;-)
wow..im lucky to have future star as a friend like u!!hehehe
You need a celebrity wall!! To make people feel like they do not know anyone in life ;)
hey man congrats. keep up the good work.
scn
Nice work Jan!
Are you sure you didn’t take those pics with the celebrities at Madame Tussauds wax museum?? Ok, just kidding ;)
well done Jan :D
Love the rabbit ears ! LOL!! A very ‘kawaii’ moment preserved in the annals of photography.
hey nice, u meet nuno :)
greetings
You are so amazing! Keep it up…Good luck!
Jan, you are one hell of a guy!
jan is really my idol :))
Stumbled on your blog. Great pics!
Hi Jan! I happened to find your page, and realised that you were also there at Joe McNally’s talk! Anyway, great work you have here, and I’m inspired by your story.
Just wondering, at the beginning, did you do your travel photography on a part time basis while holding onto a full time job, and only decided to go full time when you felt you had enough of a client base?
Keep on inspiring! :)
Hi gnohz,
Thanks for contacting me. I see that we have something in common: ASIAN Geographic. Congratulations on your 2010 Celebration Asia Runner-up piece. My pygmy squirrel entry received an Honorary Mention I wasn’t notified about this and only came across the page by accident while flipping a back copy of the magazine.
My photography career began roughly in middle of 2004 and like many, it began with the odd event and wedding services to build a healthy client base before venturing into commercial and travel work. To cut a long story short, the serious Travel component of my portfolio only really started in 2009 when Singapore Tourism Board engaged me to cover their 2009 Christmas In The Tropics campaign. Following that assignment, I pitched my travel portfolio to Tourism Malaysia and landed my first gig with them the following year: Mega Sale Carnival 2010 etc … one of a number of memorable travel highlights in recent years was an exclusive invite by Universal Studios Singapore for the Grand Opening.
TRAVEL Photography: if you’re aiming for sponsored trips I think has very little to do with establishing enough client base but rather something you want to pitch to your target audience. I like to think I am doing it right by narrowing my scope to promoting tourism for my clients local and abroad. As a full time professional photographer you have to balance between fun assignments versus paid assignments that put food on the table for the family. A sponsored trip means all your travel, food and accommodation are taken care of in return for your writing and pictures to promote the sponsor’s holiday destination (in the case of a tourism assignment like mine). You are not paid for the hours, days, weeks post-processing, researching the destination for a meaningful and useful write-up. The idea may sound very exciting if you’ve never been on this side of the fence before, the post-trip reality is other having gained new insights and travel experience, the aftermath can leave you truly exhausted. Exhausting because I take my work seriously and believe only in delivering quality work to my clients/sponsors. Hope this helps :)
Great photos of Kuala Lumpur cityscape… some of these would make terrific posters, bags, mugs… even postcards. Maybe you could hook up with a marketing company.
Hi there! Thanks for visiting. If you ever get asked for stock pictures of KL cityscape guess where you could point them to? :)