Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

It has been an eventful year in 2010; meeting new friends, seeing new things and learning new stuffs.

Life is a journey. Being at the right place and the right time is critical in order to capture the right moments. Here is something that we treasure when we were in Borneo during the Borneo Photography Workshop that I led this year in April 2010.

We woke up in the early morning at the Borneo Highland Resort overlooking the Kalimantan Rainforest of Indonesia from the top of hill. As the first gleam of the dawn shined over the valley of the moist tropical rainforest,  the magical moment began to unfold in front of us.

In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps 
(Proverb 16:9).

Wishing you and family a very Merry Christmas and a happy new year.

May the new year brings more beautiful moments.

Amorphophallus, The Incredible Plant of Sumatra

Amorphophallus

Amorphophallus Titanum is remarkable flower structure found in Sumatra Indonesia. In 1889, it was the first time that people in Europe witnessed the Amorphophallus when the tuber of 2 m in circumference which had been growing in London’s Kew’s Gardens for some years, finally produced a bloom 2 m tall. The tallest bloom recorded was 3.3 m for the Amorphophallus Titanum. 

During our photo expeditions to Borneo, we thought we smelled a dead rat in the forest. It was actually a few blooms of the Amorphophallus just by the trail in  Kubah National Park, Sarawak,Malaysian Borneo. We also saw similar flower at the Mulu National Park in northern Sarawak.

The foul smell of the flower lures insect to pollinate the plant as you can see from the bee hovering inside the flower.

Today, as I was at the Singapore Botanical Gardens, I chanced upon this rare plant at the information counter near the taxi stand next to the Tanglin Gate.

If you are in Singapore this week, don't miss this rare opportunity to see this amazing plant in the visitor information counter at the Tanglin Gate of the Singapore Botanical Gardens.

 (See image above taken on 23 Nov 2010).

Kingfishers of Borneo

Here are two Kingfishers I took in Borneo recently. Both images were taken at very low shutter speed of about 1/20 or 1/10 second on mirror lockup and delay shutter to prevent vibration on tripod with IR release trigger. ISO about 800 to 1000 on Olympus E3 with 2X converter. Raw image processed on Adobe Lightroom 3. No flash was used on both images.

Dxo Noise Analysis on DSLR and Medium Format Camera

http://www.dxomark.com/index.php/eng/Camera-Sensor/Sensor-rankings/%28metrics%29/

Here is an interesting chart and rank of all the popular cameras with their different noise levels. Note that the bigger the frame the lower the noise level (in general). If you camera has a high noise level, lower the ISO and use post processing software like Adobe Lightroom 3 to reduce the noise level.

Video on Rufous-collared Kingfisher, Sabah,Malaysia

I was in Sabah photographing birds. Here is a chance to take video by mounting my small camera EP-1 to my telephoto bird lens. Look out for the mosquito.

Rufous-collared Kingfisher Sabah bird Malaysia

www.youtube.com

Photography Workshop Borneo Bird Watching

Image Posting From Dusk to Dawn. Photography Workshop SIngapore

Thank you for those who submitted the images in October from Dusk to Dawn. The challenges were how to make good use of the changing light  and the ability to work in low lighting conditions.

1) Timing is very important. Take different sunsets at various stages. If it was too early, the sky would be too bright. If it was too late, it will be all black . Both cases were not very exciting at all. Get them right. Get it when there is a drama in the sky. That drama will catch the attention.

2) Exposure challenges. Meter near the sun but not including the sun. That is how we start basing the exposure on. Change metering from Multi-pattern to spot metering. Use the AEL button when in need.

3) Keep the composition interesting. The sunset by itself will not be interesting enough. Look for iconic building or foreground to accompany the sunset. Let's give it a try again.

Next month we will work on Christmas lighting.

Challenges in photographing the Formula One Night Race in Singapore

25 September 2010, Singapore
I had the opportunity to join the 3rd Singapore F1 event. It was the first WET night evening race as it rained that afternoon. The sky cleared that late afternoon and the race was on for Saturday night and Singaporewas ready to party.

6D5N Borneo Photography Workshop on Bird, Macro and Landscape Photography In Sarawak

Photographing in the rainforest is not easy because there is very little light and subjects are elusive. The tropical rainforest is one of the most diversified environments with more than 50 % of the world species. Unlike the normal wild life in the open area in Australia or Africa, light in the rainforest is very dim and subjects are not exposed. Good knowledge and skill are the key ingredients in locating and photographing the subjects

This is no ordinary trip to Borneo, it covers terrains from low land rainforest to coastal and montain forest to photograph nature. During the trip, John will guide participants on how to capture and create powerful images. When time allowed, dinner photo critique will be conducted among the participants to gain further insight and knowledge into the image, the subject and the environment. The 6 day workshop will be packed with daily & nightly outing plus invaluable learning experience. The ideal group will be a small group of photographers who have the basic photography knowledge and keenest in learning how to shoot in the rainforest. There are still two more vacancies for the workshop. See details here

5 Day 5 Night of Sun,Sand and Sea in the narrowest strip of Thailand

Photography Trip to Southern Thailand

5 Day 5 Night of photography,sun,sand and sea in the narrowest strip of Thailand 358 KM south of Bangkok near the Burmese border. The wind was strong, the air was cool ( 22 deg at night) and weather was mostly sunny with blue sky. We spent time at the Myanmar border, Dan Sin Khorn.near the narrowest part of Thailand only 10.9 km wide. The actual isthmus of Kra Buri connecting the Asian mainland and the Malay Peninsula is 48 KM wide separating the Andamand Sea and the Gulf of Thailand.

Spending time on the beach every morning facing the Gulf of Thailand we were greeted with spectauclar sun rise. How many days in a year do we see sun rise in Singapore ?

We travelled to 2 national parks in Thailand phographing birds.The two parks were;

1. Hat Wanakon National Park ( a small coastal park )
2. Kaeng Krachan Ntional Park ( the largest in Thailand with mixed deciduous and evergreen forest).

At Kaeng Krachan, we stayed at the edge of the 45 square KM reservoir near the park head quarter with scenic view of the water.. The higlight of the trip was the drive to the top of the mountain at Panorn Thung ,about 970 m above sea level, stopping brieftly at Ban Krang camp ground. The road up is one way from 5:30-7:30 am. We left the lodge about 6:30 am and reached the gantry at 7:15 am.

Sawadee, Southern Thailand

I am now trying the wiresless connection