Photography | Mabul Island | A Gift of a Photographs

© 2011 Wazari Wazir | Mabul Island Sabah | A Gift of a Photographs

“A photograph never grows old. You and I change, people change all through the months and years but a photograph always remains the same. How nice to look at a photograph of mother or father taken many years ago. You see them as you remember them. But as people live on, they change completely. That is why I think a photograph can be kind.” | Albert Einstein

This Island Photo Safari were organized by Fahad Nasir from 48th Studio Kota Kinabalu from 18 to 21st November 2011 in conjunction with his newly open studio. About 11 photographers involved with this photography outing. We visit many small island on this trip, island hopping, I would say but on this particularly outing we did not spent our night here in Mabul but we stay at Kapalai Island, less than twenty minutes from Mabul Island.

There is no particular agenda during this trip, we just having fun visiting one island to another, some of the island that we visited on this trip is new to me like Maiga, Kalapauan and Bohey Dulang. I’ve visited Mabul Island three times including this trip. Once I know that Mabul was on our itinerary, I decided to make some prints of the pictures that I took when I visit Mabul Island on 2008. Just a small 4r size photograph and hopefully I can met those that I’ve photograph back then and hand it to them the printed pictures personally.

While some of my other friends are busy taking pictures of the people especially the kids on the island, I was busy asking people whether they knew someone in the photograph that I’ve show them. I think there is a lot of changes within three years especially the face of the children there, they grew up quite fast and I can’t hardly recognize them myself.

Some of them quickly recognize their face and asking for the pictures and some of them when knowing it is their pictures simply get hold of it and never return it back to me, maybe they were quite shy especially those little girl that I’ve photograph before, some of them quite reluctant to let me take their pictures with their photograph, I just wanted to record some of their facial changes or how they have grew up.

I did not make any serious portrait photography here as I hope for before coming here but nevertheless I’m very happy, I’m so much happy to make someone else happy. I just can’t describe how I feel when I see them happy showing their printed pictures with their friends and family and some of them also help me to find where the people in the photograph are staying and some of them have move to the big island for a better future I guess.

I’m glad also that by giving them the photograph, they did not asking any money from us and instead they voluntarily asking our friends to take their pictures hoping that someday we will came back and gives their pictures. I think a gift of a photograph to these people especially to their kids is so much more valuable that if we gave them a candy which will be melt in their mouth in less than five minutes but this photograph if they know how to take care off will stay will them for generations and I believe also that most of this family here doesn’t have so many pictures of their childrens while they are still small and I hope this picture will cherished them.

I think the more we give, the more we get. Hopefully also to those of you who have visited this island before and wanted to make a return visit can prints some of the photograph and give it to the person and make them happy. In the long run, hopefully we can be friends with them and not just as a stranger with big camera pointing lens at their face.

We spent less than three hours here on this Mabul Island before moving back to Kapalai Island. I will make sure when I came back here again, I will stay here maybe for a couple of  days and I’ve a very good reason to came back here again because during just few hours here, I’ve taken quite a lot of “group” photograph with them and I did tell them that I will came back and gives the pictures to them.

Our visit here is just a brief, a very short visit but hopefully our memories with them together, the people of Mabul Island will stay with them forever, after all the gift of a photographs is priceless and hopefully they take a very good care of them.