Kampong Kepayang: The Abandoned - Part 1

I have been passing by these old, abandoned shop houses a couple of times. This is an interesting place to explore and photograph – I love the place with a lot of history!

Kampong Kepayang, a former tin-mining town in the tin-rich Kinta Valley (Perak State, Malaysia). It’s consisting of two rows of pre-war shop houses, located just 13km south of Ipoh city. These shop houses exist since 1880s and it was once a live place – different shops and entertainment places, included prostitute house. It is now an almost abandoned place - a ghost town. Although there are still a few families living there and a few shops are still in operation.

Reference Websites:

Kg. Kepayang: A time capsule 

Demolition of pre-wars shops postponed

Kampong Kepayang: For the love of ruins

Shenandoah Mountain Landscape

What's the best to see in Shenandoah National Park? For me, perhaps everyone else who ever visited Shenandoah - mountain landscape, waterfall and black bear:)

The 105 miles long and narrow Skyline Drive that runs along the Blue Ridge mountains, offer you one of the most spectacular mountain landscape in the world. Many visitors travel with drive, as the highway itself is the park, and it is often associated with deer and black bear sighting along the way!

Unlike other US national parks, Shenandoah is a place where people lived for over one hundred year before the park was established. Big portion of Shenandoah consisted of farmland and second- or third-growth forests logged since 1700s. Today the forests slowly come back and all these activities are mostly disappeared.

Enjoy the best of Shenandoah National Park! I wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving!

Church #4: Adolf Fredrik Church, Stockholm

Adolf Fredrik Church is located in the center of Stockholm, Sweden. The church was named after King Adolf Fredrik. It was built between 1768-1774, replacing a wooden chapel from 1674 that was dedicated to Saint Olof.

 

The church is Neoclassicism in style, with elements of the rococo. The interior is in supported by the linked pilaster columns. The paintings in the central dome can be dated from 1899-1900, by Julius Kronberg. The two sculptures in the church was made by Johan Tobias Sergel at the time when the church was built. One is the Cartesius Monument, in which the Truth, symbolized by a globe, is liberated from the veil of Falsehood. Another sculpture is the altarpiece, which depicts Christ rising from the tomb on the Easter morning. The organ was made by organ builder Gronlund in 1966.

Today, Adolf Fredrik Church inherits its rich tradition in music, with many musical services and concerts held in the church every year. It's location in the center of Stockholm make it a tourist attraction as well.

Dusk at Yavapai Point, Grand Canyon National Park

After 6+ hours of flight and 3+ hours of driving, we finally arrived in Grand Canyon National Park. We were fortunate enough to catch up the golden hour at Yavapai Point, despite the exhausting journey. This is not a place for shooting sunburst but definitely a great place for sunset. As you can see from the picture, part of the canyon light up by the low-angled sun, casting an interesting pattern of highlight and shadow. What's a spectacular view!

Finally, we were here! Welcome to Arizona!

Church #3: Lidingo Church, Stockholm

Lidingo Church is located at the southern part of Lidingo, which is an island in the inner Stockholm archipelago. The current building was completed in 1623. It is one of the oldest church in the region. The interior is beautiful. Now, let's read the church history from the picture:

- The current altar and altarpiece was added during the restoration in 1756, and it is Rococo style in design. The altarpiece is a painting depicting Jesus on the cross.

- The pulpit was made by a Swedish sculptor, Per Ljung in 1779, to replace the old pulpit from 1623. The current pulpit is Gustavian style in design.

- The Four Evangelist symbols on the chancel wall was added in 1913.

- The wall paintings are partly from 1600s, which was damaged and whitewashed, and later restored.

- The benches was replaced in 1870s and restored in 1952.

This is why I love photographing old church - seeing history in the picture...

Canyon X - Color or B&W?

This picture was taken in Canyon X, located in Navajo Nation near Page, Arizona. This is a typical slot canyon, where its smooth surface is lit up in amazing shades though the narrow slot from the top of canyon. Canyon X is a paradise for photographer, with unlimited photographic opportunities.

I create two versions for this shot. The color is astonishing, thanks to the interplay between the reflected light and smooth sandstone. Nevertheless, this is a good subject for black-and-white. Without the most distracting element - color, the interplay between contrast, shape and texture make the composition stand out.

I would like to share some really good articles about black-and-white photography: 

http://photofocus.com/2010/09/23/seven-elements-that-help-make-a-great-black-white-photograph/

http://www.photographymad.com/pages/view/5-essential-tips-for-black-and-white-photography

Which one is your favorite - color or black-and-white? Tell me what you thought:)

Birding in Kinta Nature Park

Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax)

Kinta Nature Park is located at Batu Gajah of Perak, Malaysia. The bird life here is super rich, it was claimed that the park is home to more than 130 species of birds and has the largest heronry in the country on one of its islands. We visited the park during the breeding season, thousand of herons were spotted on one of the islands. The herons were collecting nesting materials and flying over from all direction. The sight is simply spectacular!

Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea)

Purple Heron (Ardea purpurea)

It was a cloudy day, which is great for bird photography especially for the birds with white plumage. There are plenty of photography opportunities. This time I focus on simple composition - by photographing the single bird over the plain background, such as lake that reflected overcast sky. It's work out great!

Enjoy the pictures! Happy Saturday!

New Mosque, Istanbul

New Mosque (Yeni Cami) is an Ottoman Imperial mosque in Istanbul, Turkey. It is one of the most popular tourist spot in Istanbul. The construction was first began in 1597 and completed in 1665. The interior of the mosque is spectacular. The central dome is supported by four large piers. On the corner of each pier are calligraphic plates with the names of the first four Khlifahs - you can see them all in this picture. This is quite common for Ottoman Imperial mosques. The wall is decorated with blue, green and white Iznik tiles, as you can see on the left side of this picture, although it is considered as inferior quality for the earlier imperial mosques.

There are plenty of opportunities to photograph beautiful mosque interior in Istanbul. However, the low light and high contrast scene render the shot difficult. What I use to do is to set the camera in higher ISO, bracketing (depend on the light, usually +/- 2 or 3 stops is sufficient), and fire using the high speed mode. 

This picture is resultant of manual blending of 2 pictures (0EV and -2EV) in Photoshop, and subsequent detail enhancement using Topaz Adjust. If you are really care about the noise caused by high ISO, take more shots and reduce the noise in Photoshop by using median blending (I will talk more about this in later post).

Enjoy the best of Istanbul!

Rose River Falls

Shenandoah National Park is home to many beautiful waterfalls. Rose River Loop is one of the most beautiful hikes for cascading waterfalls. The length of Rose River Loop is around 4 miles, but we just hiked for ~1.5 miles to the upper part of the Rose River, and return on the same path. It is a downhill hike, although not very steep, the return trip was a bit of pain. The sunny day made photographing waterfalls a challenge, luckily there are a few clouds flew over when I was ready to take some shots. I also use polarizing filter, which is a great tool to eliminate the reflection on rocks. By the way, there is no bear spotted:) I am not a fan of having intimate contact with bear in the wild:P

Palace of Catalan Music, Barcelona

Located in the center of Barcelona, Palace of Catalan Music is a magnificent concert hall designed by the Catalan architect Lluis Domenech I Montaner. It was built between 1905 and 1908. The concert seats about 2,200 people, and is the only auditorium in Europe that is illuminated during daylight hours entirely by natural light. The walls consist of stained-glass panes set in magnificent arches, and the ceiling is a stained glass designed by Antoni Rigalt whose centerpiece is an inverted dome in shades of gold surrounded by blue that suggests the sun and sky.

It's one of my favorite shot from Barcelona, and I have it printed as postcard. If you want a free postcard, send me an email (linkahwai@hotmail.com) with your mailing address:)

Church #2: From the Lectern of St Johannes Church

St Johannes Church is located at the northern end of Norrmalm, Stockholm. The parish can be dated back to 1651 and the current building was inaugurated in 1890. The church is Gothic Revival in style, with graceful and spectacular design. I am particularly attracted by its ornate interior, which is absolutely breathtaking! 

Weekend morning can be good timing to visit the church. I have been visiting this church for many times, despite its excellent location and vicinity to the city center, I haven't seen big crowds in there. This picture was taken from the tall lectern next to the altar - which is a rare opportunity for such a spectacular church. Sometimes, get taller will give you a fresh set of eye in composing, particularly in architectural photography.

Other than good composition and light, the most important part about church interior photography is respect. Rule no. 1 - ask the permission to shot.

Enjoy the beauty of St Johannes Church! Happy Friday!

Abstract in the Forest

Delaware & Raritan Canal State Park, NJ

Forest can be a great subject for abstract photography. One of the most popular techniques is vertical panning. The technique itself is simple - set your camera to long exposure, let's said 1/8 sec to 2 sec, press the shuttle, and pan vertically (or horizontally, rotation, whatever you want). You can swipe from top to bottom once, or vice verse, or back and forth. The key is to experiment, there is no rule to follow.

Duke Farms, NJ

I love this type of abstract shot, it's minimize the detail and leave only the major element to focus on - tree or grass. The interplay between the element and light is the important to make a good abstract. Autumn foliage render a colorful and painting-like abstract. Different time of the day render very different effects, e.g. heavy fog add the sense of depth to the scene; golden hour add the magical color to the scene.

Experiment is the key! Did I said that?

Church #1: Sagrada Familia, Barcelona

Barcelona is a place full of surprises, especially for the photographer. It’s the most modern city in Spain, blessed with a mild Mediterranean weather and a colorful array of culture and nature. It has been breaking ground in art, architecture and style since the late 19th century. Sagrada Familia (Basilica and Expiatory Church of the Holy Family) is one of the most visited sites in Barcelona. This is a masterpiece of Catalan architect, Antoni Gaudi, who pushes the Gothic style to the extreme. The construction started in 1882 and estimated a completion date in 2028.

I have a few handy tips for visiting and photographing interior of Sagrada Familia:

1. Get up early to avoid looooooooooong queue (Yes, it's loooooooooooong queue). Or get your entrance ticket online.

2. Looks up at the roof - this is the most stunning man made structure I have ever seen!

3. Look for detail - there are unlimited photography opportunities.

4. Tripod is not allowed, so use higher ISO. One can do is to use high speed mode and blend 3-5 identical pictures in Photoshop to lower the noise. I will talk more about this in the future post.

5. Bracketing exposures for high contrast scene particularly during sunny day, and use exposure blending to fix it.

Describing Sagrada Familia, art critic Rainer Zerbst said “it is probably impossible to find a church building anything like it in the entire history of art”.