Malaysian creators beautifully capture Chinese New Year moments with the iPhone

Can you believe it? Chinese New Year is just days away! With that said, it’s sometimes worth to take a step back to observe, absorb and capture the stunning sights and sounds of the preparations leading up to the celebrations. Some talented Malaysian creators have done just that, armed with just their iPhones.

These stunning, inspirational images tell authentic stories from the people behind traditions like lion dancing and preparing lanterns for decorations.

These amazing photos were all shot on the iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max.

Naive Farhan – @naivefhn
https://www.instagram.com/naivefhn/

Naive met with Uncle Liu who was installing Chinese Lanterns at Poh Yin Temple, Kuala Lumpur ahead of Chinese New Year and is looking forward to spending this festive time of the year with his family. He also captured how the rest of the temple is preparing for the celebrations with aunties preparing drinks and helping make sure the floors are clean.

Amsyar Naaif – @amsyarnaaif
https://www.instagram.com/amsyarnaaif/

Amsyar managed to capture early celebrations at Sin Sze Si Ya Temple on Petaling Street which featured dragon dances and left onlookers “feeling amazed and astounded”. Separately he also visited Wan Seng Hang Dragon & Lion Arts (WSH) located in Shah Alam, a shop that produces lion costumes. He met Sanjna, a 15-year-old girl who works at the shop and enjoys decoration lion costumes. Amsyar was amazed by the fact she speaks mandarin fluently and moved by her passion.

Anwar Yusli – @nuar_yusli
https://www.instagram.com/nuar_yusli/

Anwar headed to Thean Hou Temple to catch the decorations being installed and used the Ultra Wide Angle to make sure he captured all the action as the lanterns were being put up. He used VSCO to edit some of the photos.

Khairul Amin – @k__amin
https://www.instagram.com/k__amin/

Khairul used Night mode to capture decorations at Thean Hou Temple, even though workers had started earlier in the day they worked well into the night to make sure decorations were up and ready. To capture amazing photos in low light, he suggests making sure you hold your hand steady to minimize movement to get sharper and better shots. He adds that using a tripod will allow you to increase the exposure while using Night mode.

Ahady Rezan & Shaz Sharif – @huxsterized & @moksva
https://www.instagram.com/huxsterized/
https://www.instagram.com/moksva/

Photographer husband and wife duo “Hux” and Shaz also visited Thean Hou Temple and met with Sula, a helper at Thean Hou Temple for the past 25 years who is originally from Madura, Indonesia. Sula shared she is looking forward to Chinese New Year and finds it exciting as the number of visitors to the temple multiplies and the energy is different, she finds particularly amazing to see all the people from different ages who come and visit the temple. Hux and Shaz also met with Eric Fong, the Troupe Leader of Khuan Loke Dragon & Lion Dance Association Malaysia who has been in the lion dance scene for 27 years. Khuan Loke Dragon & Lion Dance Association Malaysia was the champion of the 19th Malaysia National Lion Dance Championship, and will be competing in the 14th Genting World Lion Dance Championship 2020. They do many performances throughout the year, but during CNY is extra special because it’s a festive moment that is shared by all. All photos were edited using native iOS 13 photo editing tools.

Sufian Ghaffar – @iamod_
https://www.instagram.com/iamod_/

Sufian chose to photograph lantern displays at dusk using Night mode to capture these vibrant images and made use of reflections in puddles to create interesting compositions and mirror shots. Photos only needed basic editing and he loves using the iOS 13 photo editing tools as the UI is so simple.

Sher Reen Lim – @sherreenl
https://www.instagram.com/sherreenl/

Sher Reen visited cafes and restaurants in the Kwai Chai Hong area as they unite to usher the new year in with the introduction of lanterns in their shared back alley which added a fun element to the existing murals.

Aazmeer Iskandar – @aazmeeriskndr
https://www.instagram.com/aazmeeriskndr/

Aazmeer was warmly greeted at Ho Ann Kiong Temple in Kuala Terengganu and shown around by Madam Conney (pictured above) who has been attending the temple for some time. While he visited, she was busy making sure everything was in order ahead of Chinese New Year which includes changing flowers, repairing pillars inside the temple and hanging lanterns around the temple.