A family portrait in Werribee South

An Australian family portraiture session should, in my opinion, be fun, relaxed, casual and outdoors.  I can’t think of anything worse to be hanging up on the family loungeroom wall than a stilted, studio shot of Mum, Dad and the kids in their Sunday best, with a nondescript backdrop.  I’m thinking in particular about my own, taken when I was about 10 or 12, which still makes me cringe when I see it.

Remember when you’re choosing family, wedding or other photos of the people close to you to display prominently in your house, that you’ll see these photos every day.  I believe you would be happiest with photos taken in a location that makes you feel happy when you see it again and again.  The photo should bring back a memory of joy, associated with either the time or the place. 

A photograph that is being hung for viewing needs personality and character, rather than looking like a traditional posed image with painted on smiles.  It’s a little like music.  The Top 40 is full of tracks that really have no depth, and therefore no longevity, but you are immediately attracted to them.  Over time you’ll get bored with them.   A timeless track is often the one that grows on you, rather than immediately catching your eye.  So, listen to your photographer when he/she advises you on which photos are best to display.  They may not be the ones you initially think.

Thanks to Damon Howes and his family for this session on a brisk, but very sunny late afternoon at Werribee South Beach. I hope they’re enjoying their new collection of family portraits.

Sabah – Über-tourists and White Water Rafting

My friend Veena booked me onto a white water rafting trip, sight unseen by me. Sounded like a good idea, so off I trotted to the van this morning at 8:15am.

The trip started in dubious fashion, but proved to be probably the most fun I’ve had since being away. White water rafting in Malaysia, on a hot day, in warm water, is absolutely fantastic!

On entering the van I proceeded to the back where the one remaining seat was. On my way I passed an Asian couple, the female telling me I can sit in the front. How nice of her to suggest that I sit in the child seat in between the driver and the guide, when there is a perfectly good seat available behind her. I muttered a polite “I’m right thanks”, and kept going. I don’t know whether she was looking after her Hong Kong mates (I found out later they were all from HK) or simply had a brain fade, but either way I was going to sit where I wanted to sit. The girl who’s belongings were taking up the last remaining available seat seemed terribly offended at having to move them, but my raised left eyebrow seemed to get the message through. Ultimately, I got the best seat in the house, with room to stretch my legs on what turned out to be a three hour ride. For the best part of these three hours, the Über-tourists (1 Portugese, 1 Macau, 2 very HK, 2 modern HK) alternated between Nintendo DS, iPod and sleep, behind either ridiculously Japanese super-sunglasses or those plastic sunvisors that pull down to create tinted welding masks, with towels placed over legs and any nearby windows (except mine – and they wouldn’t have wanted to try!).

From Asia – Malaysia, Padas River rapids

Meanwhile an absolutely fascinating, thrilling and at times nerve-wracking ride through Malaysian villages over twisting, turning, rising, falling and bumpy roads ensued. It seemed that the driver was getting us in the mood for the rapids. The tourists missed the lot. I didn’t.

From Asia – Malaysia, Padas River rapids

From Asia – Malaysia, Padas River rapids

From Asia – Malaysia, Padas River rapids

I tried to begin a conversation at a meal stop with the girls who were sitting next to me, and I initially thought they were just plain rude as they looked away then walked off. I discovered later that they simply didn’t understand English and didn’t know how to say so. Conversely, the girl who suggested I sit in the front turned out to be very nice, and we chatted about photography for a couple of hours on the trip home. Asians certainly aren’t anything like me, but so far they all seem pretty good once you get to know them. I am a little more nervous about Hong Kong though, now that I’ve met a couple of them. It could take a lot of work to make friends there.

Pedro and Donna turned out to be good company throughout the day. I approached Pedro as we waited at the train station for the final transfer to the rafting location. His accent led me to believe he may have been German, and he could speak good English, so I thought he would be worth getting to know. Turns out he is Portugese but with a German mum. His partner, Donna, was very quiet but sweet, and is based in Macau (effectively HK). I’m going to a nearby island tomorrow with them to do some snorkelling.

From Asia – Malaysia, Padas River rapids

From Asia – Malaysia, Padas River rapids

From Asia – Malaysia, Padas River rapids

Pedro and I were the two front paddlers on our craft, led by Snoop Dogg. So named because that’s exactly who he looks like. It seems that tour group guides in both Thailand and Malaysia never have real names. They always go with something memorable.

From Asia – Malaysia, Padas River rapids

From Asia – Malaysia, Padas River rapids

The rapids themselves were rated 3-4. This made them moderate, and although I was apprehensive when first seeing them from the train, once I got into the water I felt totally at home. I think I’m a natural at this as I was able to easily ride the waves and used my paddle intuitively to keep balance. Three or four of the half dozen rafts capsized during the run, so I think we did well to remain in control for the entire 30-odd kilometres. I took four opportunities during the trip to leave the boat for a body-ride down some of the more gentle rapids, as the water was warm and my camera was in it’s waterproof case.

From Asia – Malaysia, Padas River rapids

From Asia – Malaysia, Padas River rapids

From Asia – Malaysia, Padas River rapids

The second half of the day was spent in torrential rain, making it even more fun. The ride home was via large speedboat and the surrounding dense tropical mountains were very much Jurassic Park. All in all, it was an awesome day, and one that I could repeat daily if time and money allowed.

From Asia – Malaysia, Padas River rapids

From Asia – Malaysia, Padas River rapids

From Asia – Malaysia, Padas River rapids

Day 2 in Sandakan, and back to KK for an upgrade

Today I set off for the Rainforest Discovery Centre where I was hoping to stumble across some hornbills amongst other things. I did end up seeing one, but it was too far away to photograph. Instead, I saw what looked like a goanna (it was a monitor lizard), and some very interesting flora.

From Asia – Malays…

From Asia – Malays…

From Asia – Malays…

After lunch and a rest back at the lodge, where I continued to try to photograph these giant “bees” (can anyone tell me what they are?), it was off to the Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary.

What an interesting drive. We were transported in a small minivan over extremely bad roads for about an hour. To make it more precarious it started to rain steadily. Of course we got bogged, when the transmission bottomed out, and we had to get out to help push the van free. Other than that, no real dramas ensued on the way. The sanctuary itself was great. Plenty of monkeys around, four groups apparently, and they either had no fear of the rain or they were very hungry.

From Asia – Malays…

From Asia – Malays…

From Asia – Malays…

Four hornbills were around too, so I was thrilled to finally get a shot of one in the wild.

From Asia – Malays…

The rain stopped not long after we arrived, however the trip back would not prove to be so easy and I asked that we get the number of the sanctuary in case we had to send for a 4WD to bail us out. For one, the roads were now very muddy and slippery, and secondly we needed to be back at the airport in 2 hours. It took nearly that long, but our driver did a fantastic job of negotiating the almost impassable bogs. We got stuck once, but after moving me into position over the rear wheels my recent excess baggage helped regain grip and off we went.

Not helping was the grumpy water buffalo that seemed ready to gore the van to death whenever we got too close. The thing had been tethered by the horns to a tree, and was none too happy about it – tossing it’s head around and constantly crossing the road just as we were ready to rush past. After about 20 minutes debating what to do, I was about to get out and pull it back to it’s original tether location whilst the van got past, then all of a sudden he looked the other way for long enough that we floored it. In hindsight I am sure he was very gentle and just wanted to let us get on with our life so he could get on with his.

From Asia – Malays…

Arriving back to the Magellan Sutera Resort in KK (Kota Kinabalu, Sabah) I’m completely exhausted. However I’m told by reception that I’ve been upgraded to the Premium Suite (or whatever it’s called) as the room I was meant to be in has been in very high demand. This upgrade is sensational. It’s a suite nearly as big as my house, and it’s right on the ocean edge so I get to hear the waves crashing all night. Perfect – I might not go anywhere now.

From Asia – Malays…

From Asia – Malays…

Actually, I’m off to do 30kms of Grade 3-4 whitewater rafting tomorrow, so better get to bed.

Arrival in Kota Kinabalu (KK), Sabah, Borneo

I’ve got a lot of preconceived ideas about Borneo, or more specifically Sabah. My friend Veena has been telling me how much better it is than KL so expectations are high, and I also am very keen to see Orang-Utans in the wild. I imagine there should be plenty of opportunity to see wildlife and rainforest. Let’s see…

It’s a 5am start as I have to get to KLIA by 6:30am to check in. Once again it was raining at the airport. However once we are in the air, it’s a totally different story. This is what a stormy sky can look like when you’re above it, and the sun is rising. Notice there are storm clouds still higher than the plane (at about 33000 feet) over to the left.

From Asia – Malaysia, Kota Kinabalu

It’s very hot when I reach KK. The Magellan Sutera resort is spectacular, and the views across the sea to the nearby islands are postcard-worthy. I’m writing this a few days after the fact and I can tell you that it gets even better than today. You’ll have to wait for that one. The sea is crystal clear and green, and the fish by the jetties and in the shallows are aquarium quality, able to be seen so easily as the water visibility is perfect.

From Asia – Malaysia, Kota Kinabalu

From Asia – Malaysia, Kota Kinabalu

From Asia – Malaysia, Kota Kinabalu

From Asia – Malaysia, Kota Kinabalu

From Asia – Malaysia, Kota Kinabalu

We take lunch at the Waterfront, where Veena knows the local restaurateurs by first name. I haven’t been to the Aussie bar yet, and as it’s not in keeping with my mission here, I doubt I will.

From Asia – Malaysia, Kota Kinabalu

From Asia – Malaysia, Kota Kinabalu

From Asia – Malaysia, Kota Kinabalu

The surroundings are too idyllic to leave, so late lunch turns into early tea as we wait for the sunset, watch the fishing boats meander in and out of the harbour, and duck as the local public transport system roars overhead every 15 minutes.

From Asia – Malaysia, Kota Kinabalu

From Asia – Malaysia, Kota Kinabalu

From Asia – Malaysia, Kota Kinabalu

They seem to have an aversion to putting alcohol in the cocktails in Asia, but at least it looks good as the sun sets into the nearby island.

From Asia – Malaysia, Kota Kinabalu

From Asia – Malaysia, Kota Kinabalu

From Asia – Malaysia, Kota Kinabalu

From Asia – Malaysia, Kota Kinabalu

Canoe trip

Still in Phuket, Thailand, I left at a more respectable hour for a canoe tour of what I think is referred to as James Bond Island. This is because of one of the JB films based there. This tour was highly recommended by other Aussies I spoke to, and whilst it wasn’t a thrill a minute, it was pretty enjoyable.

Not too much to share photo-wise on this one, as I don’t want to throw up endless images of blue skys, green water, and impressive tall mountainous islands. You can Google “Phuket” for those shots.

The fabled light at the end of the tunnel. I should send this to those left working for Coles.

Inside this cave were a stack of fruit bats hanging from the ceiling. (What’s the correct term for a group of bats? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? I reckon it’s an Ozzy of Bats.) They stunk, and you can imagine how little air there was in there as the tide rose.

One of the cutest things in the ocean is the mud-skipper. This one looks like she needs to reapply her lipstick though.

Each of the boats had a guide to tell us about what we were seeing, as well as do the actual paddling. One of them was nick-named King Kong, for very obvious reasons. He was a huge for a young guy, and a riot. He fell out of the canoe at one stage, showing off for the two girls in his boat by trying to balance standing up. My guide told me in an earnest voice that all the other guides encouraged him to exercise regularly, and they assisted by doing so with him every day during their breaks.

This was their exercise – hackysack. Everytime you miss the sack, or kick it badly, you have to do a lap of the group. He was terrible at it, and they kept kicking it to him. That’s him messing another one up right now.

Trialing the Panasonic around Melbourne

Day 2 in the city with my new point and shoot – the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18, and I thought I should try a few shots over lunch and on the night walk back to my car. Check out all of the shots here.
Sitting on a bench in the middle of the CBD, I was staring into my LCD screen trying to interpret the icons. Suddenly feet started appearing in the preview. I decided to see how fast the autofocus worked on a dull day with no pre-focus and got this.

 

 

 

Looking back up from the foot, I noticed a street artist using his hands to create some pretty authentic renaissance style painting on the concrete. You could spend all day in Melbourne photographing the various street performers, and when you get bored with them you just photograph some of the more unusual people hanging around.

I was curious about how the camera handled night lights and handheld slow shutter speeds. For the most part it does a great job, although at times I had to place it on a steady surface and take long exposures. This shot was handheld and typifies some of the night shots I might be capturing in many of the world’s busiest Asian cities.

After much dawdling around the CBD I started to get cold and began to make my way back to Crown Casino, where I had parked for the day. The rest of these images were taken on longer exposures, but show what you can do with a cheap camera when you are traveling. These are all different views of the Yarra River around the Southbank and Crown Casino areas.

Every hour the Crown Casino flame jets explode into life, lighting up the boardwalk with spurts of a hot, orange glow. Far more difficult to photograph with this type of camera, and I really wasn’t in the right place to shoot them effectively, but hey – I had fun trying. Perhaps the tourists in the foreground of this image had more luck than I did.

Well, next stop Singapore. See you there…