Generic Main Street, Fishing Village

We drove into this street in Tanjung Sepat by accident. It was very long and is flanked by wooden shops on both sides. My first reaction was “I have only seen such long streets in Cambodia” Alex who recently returned from Cambodia. nodded his head in agreement.

I think it was the seemingly endless Charles de Gaulle Boulevard in Phnom Penh Cty that I rode a motorbike on. Could be another, It was confusing. No romantic colonial name here though. Just plain vanilla Jalan Besar – a common or generic Main Street name in many small towns in his country.

It was the main street of the village, I suppose. Now the village has grown into a town via other parts. Tip: I could still retrospectively find the street name as I captured a shop’s signboard with a name alone. Googling the grocery shop led to an address.

Fascinating that you can buy just about anything under the sun at one of the shops here. There were also temples and churches. Unlike Cambodia, bikers without helmets zoomed about here like many villages in Malaysia.

Photography Tip: Shooting through a car’s front windscreen can destroy the camera’s white balance. The colour balance will be altered by subtle factory glass tinting not visible or apparent to our eyes as we get used to it after a while. A little post processing can fix it usually.

Panasonic Lumix GM-1, ISO 200, f16, 1/250 sec.

#smalltown #village #mainstreet #tanjungsepat #landscape #cambodia #streetphotography #street #road #rural

Drive By Shooting

I don’t know what was going on. A senior citizen was arranging some old newspapers outside her house in a village in Sekinchan paddy land. I was a passenger in a car and I shot with the window rolled down.

You can take preemptive actions such as upping the shutter speed and deciding how you want to frame it before the car approaches. I kept one finger on the exposure compensation dial as I was thinking her silver hair might be problematic. It wasn’t in the end as the camera’s dynamic range contained it.

While anticipation is good, I didn’t expect her to lift up the broadsheet to conceal herself at the critical moment. I cued driver and friend Daniel Tang to look at my LCD screen so he can adjust or pace the car’s speed accordingly. Takes practice but I have been on many trips with him in the past.

I chose a black and white rendition as the vegetable patch was overwhelmingly green. Black and white also gives street photography the raw and gritty look befitting the subject.

Panasonic GM-1, ISO 200, f10, 1/320 sec.

#sekinchan #village #streetphotography #blackandwhite #ruralscape

Kampung Hakka Mantin And Santa Factory Series – Self-Contemplation

We just came to the 10th picture in the Kampung Hakka series and it is time for some honest self-contemplation. While I am happy with the manual controls, quality and resolution of the Asus camera, will I attempt another extensive photo essay again with the phone camera alone?

The emphatic answer is No! It is more a workflow issue. To select the pics, I have to look at the thumbs in the gallery, I then expand the chosen pic to confirm clarity and sharpness. The shortlisted pic is sent by gmail to myself and retrieved on my PC. The process is too tedious, time consuming and tiresome. I know there are other methods. Don’t forget I also need to write the captions or story.

I’ll go with a real camera with a removable SD card such as my compact GM1 the next time. I can just pull out the card and slot it into a card reader. Now I have 600 pics in the phone I must look through again and delete later.

Asus Zenfone 3, ISO 50, f2 , 1/250 sec.

#streetphototography #mantin #village #hakka #urbex #abandoned #dilapidated #derelict #urbex #urbandecay #documentary #kampunghakka #puppy #workflow #asus

Kampung Hakka Mantin – Part 10

I like the Kampung Hakka exploration in that it is a journey of surprises and discoveries. No guides, no preconceived notions. Stumbled upon this Chinese chess board engraved on a stone table. The players kept all the chess pieces but left two cigarette packs behind. These are signs of life but they are always indirect. mysterious or baffling.

Asus Zenfone 3, IS 50, f2, 1/250 sec.

#streetphototography #mantin #village #hakka #urbex #abandoned #dilapidated #derelict #urbex #urbandecay #documentary #kampunghakka #chess #asus

Kampung Hakka Mantin – Part 9

There is a glorious one here naturally, cast away in the shambles and ruins.

Where is Kampung Hakka Mantin? Map and directions at MyCen Maps: http://www.mycen.my/kampung-hakka-mantin/

Asus Zenfone 3, IS 50, f2, 1/180 sec.

#streetphototography #mantin #village #hakka #urbex #abandoned #dilapidated #derelict #urbex #urbandecay #documentary #kampunghakka #sofa #asus