PHOTOGRAPHS decorate the walls at the upper floor of Kasbah – a Mediterranean restaurant in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur.
The images provide different views of several cities and townships in India, Japan and Malaysia – namely Kuala Lumpur and Ampang.
Those behind the lenses of these images are three young French girls based in the Malaysian capital city – sisters Anais and Amelie Dupuis, and Quitterie Legrand.
The trio, students from the French International School in Kuala Lumpur, insist it’s a visually-driven world.
Their artistic works were showcased on May 16, as part of an Asian Photography Forum organised by HBL Network.
The girls were guided by multi-award winning war photojournalist Halim Henry Berbar, who is also HBL Network chief executive officer.
“The world is image driven … look at Instgram, Snapchat. That’s how people are communicating these days,” says Legrand, 17.
“Photo is the thing right now … image is today. And I can see photography growing even bigger and better.”
Legrand, who started taking pictures when she was 13, says photography is her passion.
“I never thought my works would be exhibited but Berbar said we should do it. This has opened up my mind about journalism and photography,” she added.
Anais and elder sister Amelie took up photography about the same time.
“It was about a year or two ago. I would always see my sister taking pictures and was drawn to photography. I told myself I should give it a shot,” says Anais, 16.
Anais says the workshop started in February and they discovered new and exciting sights in and around several major cities in the region.
“Everyone is into photography these days. A picture tells a thousand words.”
Amelie, 17, says it is interesting how society views one armed with a camera.
“It’s different everywhere. In India, people were keen to get their pictures taken. But not in Java … the people there tend to shy away when you aim the camera towards them,” she adds.
“I would say India is a beautiful place to take pictures. The weather and lighting is perfect.”
So will the girls pursue an education in photojournalism?
“Yes. For us, photography is intriguing, fascinating and there’s just so much we can share through images. It’s our way of documenting history too,” says Legrand.