By Azreen Azirinee Azizi
GOMBAK, 12 April 2017: IIUM President, Tan Sri Dr. Rais Yatim has a passion for photography as he believes in the capturing of the moment or what he termed as “momentous photography”.
“We cannot capture again the moment that has happened or has passed but with a camera we can record the precious moment,” Tan Sri Rais said when handing over a digital SLR camera (Canon 80D), as a token of his personal contribution to IIUMToday, on Tuesday morning (11 April).
Present at a brief handing over ceremony in his office were the Dean of IRKHS, Prof. Dr. Rahmah Ahmad Hj. Osman, Head of Department of Communication, Dr. Aini Maznina A. Manaf, and the Coordinator of IIUMToday, Dr. Wan Norshira Wan Mohd Ghazali.
Tan Sri Rais expressed the hope that the IIUMToday team would make full use of the camera to capture momentous photographs for their news portal to accompany their news items and feature stories.
Being an avid photographer himself, Tan Sri Rais shared his knowledge with IIUMToday on the art and skills of photography highlighting how technological advancement has helped in capturing important events.
According to Tan Sri, he was himself surprised to see how fast digital camera has advanced compared to negative camera when it first started more than 20 years ago. He said he was among those who had the first digital camera, and his love for photography can be reflected when he shared with IIUMToday team about how camera has been an important device to capture important moments in history.
“With picture taking, you actually can preserve one moment in life that won’t occur again,” he said.
He pointed out that apart from artistic photography, it is important for photographs to be kept as records to document history.
“We should therefore be very serious to consider setting up our own archive.”
Tan Sri Rais called on the students to appreciate photography and encouraged them to interact with each other through photography sessions.
He suggested that they should organise photography competition among students in all the IIUM campus as a platform for them to engage with each other and share the interest.
“Every month, keep aside exemplary photos of activities of friends and classrooms and we can organise IIUM photography day,” he said.
He expressed the hope that IIUM Photography Club would continue to exist and to establish a platform like a virtual or print gallery to exhibit the work of the students to the audiences.
Tan Sri Rais had served as Cabinet Minister in different ministries under six different Malaysian Prime Ministers. As IIUM President, he is also currently the social and cultural adviser to the government. Since his appointment as IIUM President four years ago, Tan Sri has been very actively involved in engaging with the students particularly in integrated culture and in the enhancement of education.
The Star newspaper had recently described “Tan Sri Rais Yatim’s current roles have allowed him to explore two areas close to his heart: culture and education.” It is not surprising to see Tan Sri Rais actively involved with Citra Open Day activities, where he himself wrote and recited his own poem. ***