The unsung heroes of Kuala Lumpur

This post is brought to you by the Huawei P9

What is an unsung hero? It’s someone who does good deeds but receives little to no recognition for their efforts. Someone whose noble actions often go unnoticed. These unsung heroes are everywhere and often come in every shape and form.

Take this beautiful city we call Kuala Lumpur, for example.

When you think of KL, what comes to your mind? The food? Sure. The massive jungle of steel and concrete? Definitely. The impossibly congested traffic? Absolutely. Who you don’t think of, are the city’s caretakers.

We’re talking about the people who clean walkways. People who look after parking lots. People who maintain our public spaces like that curb on the side of the road. People who open the doors for you. And of course, people who coordinate traffic in this mad city.

These people are doing fantastic work yet hardly any of us actually appreciate them. Sure, we’re quick to complain when they get something wrong, but what about all the times that they got everything right? They are the real unsung heroes of our beautiful capital city.

Well, we thought we’d throw together a little tribute to these heroes. Something that’d put a face on the otherwise invisible force that keeps our city from falling to pieces. To see a different side of KL that you would’ve otherwise brushed pass without a second glance. And what better device to capture the human faces of our city’s unsung heroes than the Huawei P9.

The P9’s exquisite 12-megapixel dual-camera, co-engineered with Leica consists of two different sensors. One is your bog standard colour sensor, while the other is a dedicated black-and-white sensor. What separates the P9’s monochrome images from the rest is that the P9 doesn’t use a filter. Couple that with its discreet body and quick focusing makes the P9 easy to use on the streets where moments are fleeting and action is ever changing.

We shot exclusively with the monochrome sensor, not only because of how well the P9 captures contrast and detail in black and white images, but also because of what the monochrome effect brings – it brings honesty. It paints our heroes in an honest and dramatic light, without the distractions of colour. It’s raw in its portrayal, with great depth and beautiful light, perfect for this set.

With the P9, we managed to capture just a hint of what goes on behind the scenes in Kuala Lumpur. There are many more people like these throughout KL and indeed the rest of the world. You won’t have to look hard to find them, you just have to look at the city a little differently. You’ll see. And when you do, we hope you can capture some of these special moments and share them with us — with everyone else — so that piece by piece, little by little, maybe, just maybe, these unsung heroes will get the recognition that they deserve.

[nextpage title=”It’s time to see KL in a different light”]

This gentleman makes sure that your car parks are secure. He wears a face mask to help filter the suffocating exhaust fumes of the cars that drive around in the underground carpark. He doesn’t speak much Bahasa Malaysia, but he carries a stick with him and stands at attention, ready for any kind of funny business.

This man used to work in Genting Highlands where the air is cool and refreshing. He mostly worked on maintaining the electrical wiring at one of the mountain’s hilltop hotels. Now, he spends time maintaining the carpark under Berjaya Times Square. He paints the curbs when they start to fade and does his best to keep the car park clean and pretty.

He spends most of his time at the entrance to Berjaya Times Square, talking quickly into his walkie when he sees any suspicious activity. He was a little shy to have his photo taken. Perhaps he wasn’t used to people noticing him as they usually saunter by like he was invisible.

This man, along with several others like him keep the traffic in front of this busy shopping mall organized. He blows a whistle when he sees people obstructing traffic. Seems simple, but he keeps the traffic moving and that’s the important bit.

Even under the sweltering heat of the noon-day sun, he’s dressed as smartly as ever. Not a hair out of place or a tie pulled loose.

Directing traffic can be a bit boring if we’re being honest. But, most times it’s like a puzzle that you have to balance to make sure everyone has as nice of a ride as possible. He certainly has a nice ride.

He just finished his shift had started packing his high visibility jacket away. On the back, it says “Orang PEKA tidak membuang sampah merata-rata”. Two minutes after this shot was taken, he was busy giving directions, rather enthusiastically, to two motorcyclists who seemed to have lost their way.