ASPIRING photojournalist Joyce Tedoen has always wanted to travel to London, but for now, it seems like his work has beaten him to it.

The shutterbug and scribe behind What? Just Me and My Words (http://joyce-tedoen.com/) and Joyce’s Photography (http://joisu.com/) will have his works displayed at the ‘Beautiful Landscapes’ exhibition at Covent Garden for a week from tomorrow.

“It was a lucky moment for me. Clare Davies of Newly Hatched (www.newlyhatched.org) did a Google search on ‘Canon 450D’, and found my blog. She thought my works will fit in just right… invited me to take part through email, and I replied ‘Yes, sure, why not?’”, recalls the 22-year-old who began his foray into photography at the tender age of nine.

In his quest to achieve a long-held dream, Joyce found the blogosphere to be the perfect platform on which to do so: “Photoblogging to me is like a training ground, to be a good photojournalist.”

It is a boon indeed, for the rest of the cyber community – we get to watch a talent bloom before our eyes.

Tell us a little about yourself…

I never got seriously into photography until early last year. I bought a second hand Canon Powershot S2 IS, attended a street photo shooting session with photographers I met from Lowyat.net forum, and never looked back. On my 21st birthday the same year, I bought a Canon EOS 450D, the same one I’m using now for most of my photography.

I started out as a street photographer who did a bit of everything, like politics, sports, conceptual and other events/genres.

How and when did you start your blog?

I’ve built many blogs, written on various subjects, but none of them lasted more than a couple of months when the interest died. After that, I got my first digital camera last year, and started my first photoblog (http://joyce-tedoen.com).

After four months of active photoblogging, mostly on current affairs, I got hired by a media monitoring company. I was told that my photoblog showed I had certain amount of discipline, and was interested in current affairs.

During the period of employment, I stopped blogging. Recently I decided to quit and pursue my long time dream – to be a photojournalist. I deleted the old database of my photoblog and started fresh again. Many cannot understand the move but for me, it's vital to move on, possibly to the next level. Now, you can follow my latest “story” and photos in it.

What were your reasons?

The main objective of the photoblog was to showcase my works, and score me a job. I got a job because of my blog, so objective achieved.

Has your blogging changed your life?

Tremendously. I’ve been following the codes of ethics in photojournalism (my number one rule is no photo-manipulation or heavy post process by Photoshop). I travel frequently to “weird places”, just to get a taste of how life is in there. I always feel like I’m a full-fledged photojournalist, just short of being on a payroll.

Foremost feature in the “Cybersphere” that irritates you?

I'm not sexist or anything, but through my observations, female writers usually get more attention than male ones do. Especially those who are willing to show some skin and are not afraid of to speak on subjects like sex, drugs, and rock and roll. That is one quick recipe to becoming famous in Cybersphere – that is, if you’re a girl. You can easily outrank any guy who writes on the same subject.

If you had to really choose one blog to interact with, which would it be?

It would be Beve’s (topswhirr.blogspot.com). We shared a lot of wonderful memories and we were close friends, so if I really had to pick one to interact with, Beve’s would make a lot more sense than some high profile blog where I don’t even know who the real writer is.

What would you really like to achieve through Cyberspace communication?

I want to show the world what I see, especially when they can’t see the same thing in the same way I did. For example: the landscape photos of Kota Kemuning that will be featured in an exhibition in London. Many local residents never knew it was such a beautiful place. A photo beats a thousand words – useless if I can't show it to as many people as I could in Cyberspace.

If there were someone you could influence to take up?

The random foreigner I met on a KL street some days ago. I wonder what he would say about Malaysia.

Additional thoughts?

I’ve met wonderful people and given many chances to do wonderful things – fully paid trip to Lost World of Tambun by Sunway, premier screening of blockbuster movies, etc. If I get to do it all over again, I swear I will be less picky than I was.