Photography Students Take Flight

Students taking pictures of the birds in their natural habitat.

30th August 2005 The sun was shinning, the wind was blowing calmly and birds can be heard chirping all around. It was a lovely day for a walk in the bird park. 20 MSC International College students of the Photography Club took part in a photography contest organised by the KL Bird Park of Malaysia , the world's largest walk-in free flight aviary. The students who entered the amateur category were lead by O-Fei, a Tutor in the photography department of the College and also advisor to the Photography Club. O-Fei joined his students in the competition, but registered in the professional category. “This is the first time for our students to venture out as a group and join in the amateur category of a national competition like this. I believe the exposure will be good for them well as it will build new experiences and allow them to see the techniques and style of others who are not from the college,” said O-Fei. “It is a fun while learning activity.”

The students and tutor are very passionate about their interest. They prepared weeks in advance before making a field trip to the park.

“It is an exciting opportunity for us to go out and join in competitions,” said Ng Shwu Chyn, President of the Photography Club. “We surfed the Internet to gather whatever information we can about the park. We primed our cameras, discussed tactics, planned our routes of the park and considered the type of materials to use in the competition.”

Once they were all prepped for the day trip, they chartered a bus and made it a field trip out as a group. They arrived at the bird park early in the morning to be the first through the park gates.

Lee Cheng Xin, Vice-President of the Photography Club said that his motivation behind the trip were the prizes for winners of the competition. “We are confident that one of us will win the prize money as we're the biggest group who entered the competition.”

Dressed in black, the students covered the almost all 20 acres of the bird park to get the best shots. The students had fun capturing on film the 3,000 birds of approximately 200 species from all over world.

The students enjoyed the walk in nature set in the bustling city. To ease the stress of winning the competition, they took an hour break to go for the Bird Show in the park's amphitheatre.

The student went home in the evening tired but extremely satisfied by the photos they have capture. They submitted their best photo and kept their fingers crossed to win.

The results of the photography competition was listed a couple of week after the students trip.

“Although none have won a prize, I believe that our students have great talent that needs honing and training. Perhaps we aimed a little too high when we entered them into the amateur category for a national competition. We should have begun with competitions that have a category for students,” reflected O-Fei.

“We are glad that the College is very supportive of our activities. We have them to thank for the transportation and sponsored t-shirt,” said Shwu Chyn. “We are disappointed to have let our friends and lecturers down by not winning.”

The College has seen students winning other photography competitions. In the Old Town White Coffee Photography competition, student Ngun Wei Kiat won the Excellent Photography Award and Selected Photography Award. Also in the same competition, student Chong Wai Fatt won the Selected Photography Award.

MSC International College offers the Diploma in Photography that is approved by the National Accreditation Board (LAN) and the Ministry of Higher Education. Diploma holders qualify for advanced standing for the Bachelor Degree in Mass Communication from the University of Southern Queensland , Australia .