Caught In A Spiderweb

Inside the tunnel of an underpass, I decided to have some fun with the camera. For safety reasons, try this only when you are a passenger.

Set the camera’s shutter speed to between 1 and 2 seconds. Click and rotate your camera during the length of the exposure. The rotation need not be a full or perfect circle. Your mileage may vary.

To make the light bluish at the end of the tunnel, change the white balance to one of the presets by pre-viewing to see which works best.

This may be one of the last of such colour combos as the city’s street and infra lighting are gradually converted to daylight-coloured LEDs. The spider web patterns here are the result of warmer and older sodium lights.

I wish there are more taillight reds but many local motorists fail to see the need to turn on the lights when entering a tunnel. The red streaks are cars braking into a traffic jam at the end of the underpass.

Sony Alpha a7R, ISO 50, f22, 1.6 sec.

The First Tolled Highway In The Country

To tell the story of Federal Route 1, one must note the historical significance of this segment of the route.

Not many will remember, care or even know this. The first tolled highway wasn’t the North-South Expressway. It was this road between Tanjung Malim, Behrang and Slim River.

Built in 1966, the toll booths collected 50 sen from cars. The amount was a lot during its time and it was also perceived by many as mere widening and straightening of the existing Federal Route 1.

The Slim River Highway was indeed a very modest highway, especially when you are now comparing it with today’s 8-lane expressways. Still, in its time, it was an improvement over the nightmarish narrow and winding road that was crowded out by heavy vehicles.

Toll collection stopped in 1994 with the opening of the North-South Expressway.

Sony Alpha a7R, ISO 125, f13, 1/250 sec.

Goodbye Tanjung Malim

I hope you enjoyed the pictures and narrative as much as I enjoyed discovering them. The wheels roll on; another town, another adventure on Federal Route 1.

Photographed on the flyover built to circumvent the (previous) railway crossing and new electrified track. As I descend from the flyover into a junction, I will turn left to go north again.

Sony Alpha a7R, ISO 100, f5, 1/100 sec.

On The Street Where You Live

People stop and stare, they don’t bother me
For there’s nowhere else on earth that I would rather be
Let the time go by, I won’t care
If I can be here on the street where you live

The wonderful love song by Frederick Loewe and Alan Jay Lerner from the Broadway musical (and later the film) “My Fair Lady” sounds creepy in this day and age. Sounds like a stalker anthem. Haha.

Sony Alpha a7R, ISO 100, f6.3, 1/160 sec.