About ME

In one sentence, who is Suchen SK?

He’s a Malaysian photographer, sorry, photocrafter, who used to travel a lot, but decided to come home to Malaysia and concentrate on his photography and travels around Asia

Suchen SK - The Photocrafter

Photocrafter? What’s a photocrafter?

Someone who crafts photos, obviously. Suchen doesn’t just take photos, you see. Give him a camera, any camera, and he will tell you a story with it. When you hire him, you’re not just getting an album or a collection of photos. You get a book of little tales that come together to create an entire novel of vivid emotions, dramatic imagery, and wonderful memories. Suchen doesn’t want to just take photos; he wants his photos to tell you or your stories.

Mabul Island in Sabah Borneo

Ok, but what’s he like in person?

He’s a pretty cool guy. You can usually spot him a mile away – he has a head full of long dreadlocks, and drives around in a 1973 Volkswagen hippie bus known as a Kombi.

Sounds like a, er, dreaded kombination.

Yeah. He bought and restored the Kombi himself, and even rents it out for events and shoots. He’s driven it more than 8,000km through Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam and back, from Sabah all the way down to Sarawak and back... he’d probably have driven it around the world if he had it when he was doing all his travelling.

Travelling? What travelling?

Oh, you see, he loves travelling. In fact, Ever since he was born way back in 1974 in Perlis, Malaysia and grew up on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, Suchen always wanted to travel and see the world. So, one day, he decide to go to Australia, where he got a degree in music production. Yeah, he’s a qualified music producer too. How much cooler can this guy get, right?

Darling Harbour - Sydney Australia

Anyway, from then onwards, he decided to keep travelling and travelling until he hit 30, photographing the world as he saw it. Nothing was going to get in the way of his goal to see the world – no job, no woman, not even all the money in the world.

Budapest, Hungary

Most people save to travel – Suchen travelled while saving along the way, by living and working in the countries he visited. Construction worker, a painter, a waiter, a doorman, an usher, a filing clerk, an English teacher, a DJ, a bar-tender, a bar-designer, a roadie, and a few other odd jobs here and there... he had numerous jobs, but travelling was his career, and he got the full cultural experience of every country he visited.

Suchen showing off his bartending skills at a bar in Auckland, New Zealand

So how did he decide to settle down and become a photographer?

Settle down? Hardly. He still loves to travel, but he just does it in a different way these days, going where the job takes him.

How he decided to become a full-time photographer, sorry, photocrafter, came when one day, someone offered to buy his photos. It was then that he realised that he could actually make a living out of looking through that little rectangular viewfinder box and telling stories with every click of his camera.

What sort of photos does he take?

Oh, he doesn’t really have a speciality. Corporate events, international concerts, individual portraits (even some nude ones!)... Suchen’s drive to always find the story in a photo has constantly led him to try new things and different photography challenges.

One of his models Maja Jansson from Sweden

He has been the official photographer for major events like the Rainforest World Music Festival, and has had his photos published in esteemed publications like National Geographic, Reader’s Digest and many other international magazines.

Rainforest World Music Festival 2009 - Zawose Family from Tanzania

Clients have even flown Suchen as their personal photographer for weddings in France, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Brunei and Singapore to name a few.

Wedding in Seoul, South Korea

Whether it’s the momentous tale of a couple’s path to happiness, an individual’s life story, or even the environmental impact of a single discarded plastic bag, you can be sure Suchen can tell that story with his camera. That’s why he calls himself a photocrafter, you see.

Speaking of plastic bags, I heard he even took photos of rubbish once.

Yup. Back in 2010, he went on a four-month journey around Malaysia taking pictures of landfills, discarded cigarette butts and garbage bins. He was working on a coffee table book for the Danish International Development Assistance (Danida) created to create more awareness among the general public regarding solid waste management in Malaysia. So he’s probably the only photographer in Malaysia who can say he takes rubbish photos!

This Suchen really does seem like a really cool guy. What’s he up to these days?

Well, he’s based in Kota Kinabalu now, but still flies around taking pictures all the time. He’s also dabbling in all sorts of things these days. Blogs and Vlogs are his latest endeavours and he's even setting up a photography course in KK and KL. What else? You’ll just have to keep reading this blog to find out!

Greetings from Borneo