Mililu Photography

❮ ❯ These photos were taken at the iconic Botanic Gardens in Auckland. It’s hard for me to choose a favorite because there are so many strong contenders—but if I had to pick one, it would probably be the photo of the ceramic chair facing the scenery. I remember lying flat on my chest to get the shot, making sure no one was around so I wouldn’t get any weird looks and I think it came out great. I wanted to capture the chair’s perspective—giving a glimpse of what someone might see if they sat in that chair. I also really like the photo of the scenery reflecting onto the lake—you can never go wrong with a reflective shot. The photo of the duck (or the "Paradise Shelduck") is another favorite. I saw it just standing there, staring off into the distance with this sort of determined pose. While the other ducks were off eating the duck food, this one didn’t move, didn’t even flinch when I got close to take the ph...

❮ ❯ These photos were taken at the Cambodian New Year Festival at the Cambodian Temple in Takanini. My favorite is probably the portrait of the dancer in the boxing ring. It was a bit of a tricky shot—the ropes were in the way, and the ring was elevated. Naturally, I went to the spot with the best angle, but that didn’t fully solve the problem since she kept moving into spots that were hard to see. After some trial and error and patiently waiting, she finally looked straight at me and— snap —I got the photo I wanted and it came out better than I expected. It turned out beautiful and surprisingly intimate, like she was looking at me—or you—instead of the camera. Here's an excerpt about my experience: "... I went out with my mom to celebrate Cambodian New Year at a temple. Similar to the lantern festival I went to earlier, there were a lot of people and plenty of festivities all around us. Naturally, these became the subjects o...