Chapter Thirty One: Candi Kuning Fruit Market, Bali: July 2014
Local markets are always a nice way of experiencing ‘normal’ every day life of a place that you visit. In Bali, markets are very common in every small town, as the idea of a supermarket hasn’t really caught on there yet, and we visited a number of them during our travels.
The photos in this post were taken at the Candi Kuning fruit market in Bedugul. Whilst my guide told me that it was a ‘local’ market, I got the impression that it was mainly there for the benefit of the tourism trade, judging by the number of foreigners wandering around. However the goods that were for sale were certainly authentic, and there was a lot of fruit, vegetable, and spices on offer.
As usual in Bali, the people at the market had no problem with having their pictures taken, so I was able to shoot away.
All images in this post made with the Leica M-E and the Summilux 50mm ASPH.
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Chapter Thirty: Git Git Waterfalls, Bali: July 2014
After the sun was well and truly in the sky, we left the Ulun Danu Temple and headed over to the Git Git waterfalls near Singaraja. Git Git Falls is a 40 meter waterfall passing through lush green vegetation as the water splashes and twirls around rocks that have been slowly formed into shape over thousands of years.
Since it was still fairly early in the morning when we arrived, we had the falls to ourselves, and were able to take our time setting up tripods and taking some shots. I like to include the sensation of motion into water shots, so chose to use a three stop ND filter and a small aperture so that I could shoot with shutter speeds between 1 and 8 seconds.
Shots taken with Leica M-E, 28mm Summicron, and 0.9ND B+W Neutral Density filter
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Chapter Twenty Nine: Ulun Danu Bratan Temple, Bali: July 2014
After four nights in Singapore we arrived in Bali. First we stayed at a resort hotel in Nusa Dua for five nights, before moving on to Ubud for the final six nights.
Through researching Bali online, I had come across a local photographer Yande Ardana who offered photographic excursions. Well worth hiring his services for the day if you are on the island. Although it was a rather early start (he picked me up at my hotel around 330am as we had a two hour drive ahead of us to make it to the first location of the day for the sunrise), Yande packed a number of locations into the day, and since he knew the locations well I was able to take advantage of his local knowledge and get some nice shots.
First we headed off to the Ulun Danu Bratan Temple in Bedugul for the sunrise. Ulun Danu is one of the main water temples on Bali, and is located on the shores of Lake Bratan amongst the mountains in Bedugul. The temple was built in 1663 and is used for offerings to the lake and river goddess Dewi Danu. Lake Bratan was chosen as the location due to the impotence of this lake in the irrigation of Bali – the lake is located at 1200m above sea level.
The temple is a fairly well known landmark in Bali, and is also depicted on the 50000 rupiah bank note. Although Yande and myself were the first photographers to arrive, by the time the sun had risen there were a number of other people present, including a rather large group of elderly Japanese photographers.
The light was certainly very nice in morning, and there was also a very slight layer of mist across the lake. I was shooting both digital and film, and found that the light lent itself very well to HDR images – all of the shots in this post, with the exception of the analog images, were 5 shot HDR processed images, using a tripod and a range of shutter speeds to maintain sharpness and image depth.
I’ve already had a number of these shots printed out in 30x45cm size, and am looking forwards to receiving one back from the frame shop fairly shortly.
Images in this post shot using the Leica M-E together with Summicron 28mm and Super-Elmar 21mm, and the Leica M6 with Elmarit 90mm, on Porta 160.
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Chapter Twenty Eight: Marina Bay Singapore: July 2014
Marina Bay in Singapore has become home to a number of five star hotels, and is a popular destination in the evenings to enjoy the fine dining whilst watching the light display on the nearby Marina Bay Sands Hotel. I always enjoy night photography in big cities, so took the opportunity to visit the area with my tripod, camera, and a cable release, and try to get some long exposures.
The Merlion Statue at Marina Bay. This statue is the symbol of the Singapore Tourist Board and relates back to Singapore’s origin as a fishing village. The lion head represents Singapore’s original name – Singapura – meaning “lion city” or “kota singa”
As well as the hotels, Marina Bay is also home to many of the large financial organisations based in Singapore. The lights in the offices were still on when I was taking these photos at around 9pm, suggesting either office workers working late, or the companies don’t care about their energy bills or the environment. Sadly I fear the latter…..
My main reason for visiting Marina Bay was to see the Gardens by the Bay. I had seen a number of good photos online before my trip, and wanted to try and capture some myself. It’s a fair walk from the Merlion statue around the bay to the other side and the Gardens, especially in the Singapore evening heat, but I was glad I made the effort. The Gardens are behind the Marina Bay Sands Hotel, which is an impressive structure boasting three towers, and an infinity swimming pool on the top.
The Supertrees in the Supertrees Grove are tree-like structures that dominate the Gardens’ landscape with heights between 25 and 50 metres. The Supertrees are home to many garden environments, and are open to visitors during the day. At night, they are lit up, and are spectacular to walk amongst.
All shots in this post taken with the Leica M-E and Super-Elmar 21mm lens. Exposures ranged from 2 to 16 seconds.
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Chapter Twenty Seven: Little India Singapore: July 2014
One of the main tourist locations in Singapore is the Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple, located in the Little India district. Getting off the metro at the Little India stop affords you a walk past the shops on Buffalo Road and Serangoon Road before arriving at the temple.
Along side the usual fruit and vegetables, a lot of the stores along the streets are preparing and selling floral offerings to give to the Hindu gods at the temple.
The temple is only open at certain times during the day for tourists, so it is worth checking those times before you make the trip out there.
Once inside the temple, it is a colourful and lively place. People are free to receive a blessing from a priest, or make an offering to one of the many deities inside the temple – either floral, or, for some reason, UHT milk!
All shots in this post taken on the Leica M-E with 50mm Summilux, with the exception of the last image, which was taken with the 28mm Summicron
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Chapter Twenty Six: Chinatown, Singapore: July 2014
We started off our summer vacation this year by spending a couple of nights in Singapore en route to Bali. I had visited a couple of times in the past, and Kyoko used to live and work there, so for both of us it was a good opportunity to go back. Whilst Singapore is a fairly small country with only 700 or km2 of surface area, it is heavily populated with a 2013 population estimate of around 5.4 million inhabitants. What the sovereign state lacks in size, it makes up for in diversity, and the city is a mixture of differing cultures. When walking around the city there are easily distinguishable districts dedicated to the Chinese (Chinatown), the Indians (Little India), and the expats (Downtown Orchard Road area).
I was able to spend some time in Chinatown wandering around the streets in the morning, and early evening. First stop was the Thian Hock Keng Tenple, or Temple of Heavenly Happiness, the oldest and most important Hokkien temple in Singapore. The temple was originally built as a humble joss house in 1821-22, and converted into its current form in 1839-42. The temple is right on the edge of Chinatown and the market streets are easily reachable from there.
At the start of Pagoda Street, on the edge of Chinatown, is the Sri Mariamman Temple, the oldest Hindu temple in Singapore, serving the Chinese Hindus. As I passed by there were the beginnings of a celebration for one of the Hindu gods.
The rest of Chinatown is a mixture of market stalls selling a mix of tourist souvenirs and more traditional wares, set against a backdrop of old and new architecture, houses and massage parlours, decorated with Chinese lanterns…..
The clothes, make up, and jewellery in this rack are used to dress up the deceased in preparation for the wake, and the burial…..
Scooting through Chinatown. Cos if you’re an American on holiday in a new city, that’s exactly what you’re going to do…..
Roasted chestnuts from a street vendor. At a price of nearly 4 Euros for half a kilo, it shows that Singapore is no longer the cheap city it used to be. Unless of course you’re buying souvenir key rings, in which case you can get 30 for 10$ if you bargain hard enough….
All images in this blog post shot using the Leica M-E and Summicron 28mm.
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Chapter Twenty Five: Waiting, London: July 2014
Due to some less than ideal travel times recently I ended up waiting in London after a meeting and before my flight home. I had my M-E with me, so I went for a wander in the streets around the office.
When you’re in a big city, I guess you spend a lot of your time waiting for one thing or another.
Waiting for a bus
Waiting for traffic to pass
Waiting to cross the road (and dressing up in fancy dress for the occasion?!)
All shots in this post taken with the Leica M-E and an Elmarit 90mm lens. For those of you that have been keeping up with the blog, you’ll notice that I have supplemented the Elmar-C 90mm lens with an Elmarit 90mm as well. After many failed attempts to find a sharp Elmarit, I finally found one that gave me acceptably sharp results, so purchased it. This trip was my first chance to try it out, and I was more than happy with the results.
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Chapter Twenty Four: Charleroi. The ugliest city in the World? : June 2014
Charleroi, a city in Wallonia, Belgium, was at the centre of the Belgian Industrial Revolution. However a 2008 poll by the Dutch newspaper Volkskrant voted Charleroi as the ugliest city in the World. I decided to find out for myself and went along on a trip organised by Charleroi Adventure to find out more.
We started off near Charleroi station with our tour guide for the day, Nicolas Buissart, The plan for the day was simple, he told us – we would wander along the canal, pass by some of the still partly used metal working factories, head off through the centre of town to buy some lunch, pass by another deserted factory, travel on the city metro, get in our cars and visit the famous ghost metro, a disused cooling tower, and if we had time at the end of the day visit some more disused factories. Oh, and visit Enrico.
Charleroi has been in steady decline since the loss of industrial power in the 1970s leading to the city running out of money in the 1980s. The unemployment rate is amongst the highest in Europe at around 25% after the once affluent industries of iron, steel, gas, and chemicals packed up and left, realising they could produce their wares much cheaper in China and other Far Eastern economies. All that was left behind was wide spread poverty and abandoned factories. Today, although the government of Wallonia claim that the city is experiencing a turn around in fortunes, it feels fairly grim walking around.
From an urban phtographer’s perspective of course, it is paradise, and a fair number of the people that Nicolas hosts on his tours take part in order to take photos. The initial walk along the canal took us past the large metal working factories with their furnaces and heavy machinery. Although one of them appeared to be working, taking deliveries of scrap metal and melting it down to make electrical connectors, many of the rest hadn’t been operated for some years, and the contents of the factories are slowly being sold to the Chinese for exportation.
Further along the canal there is a lot of green as nature slowly overtakes the derelict buildings and unused towpaths, and we take a turn to walk back into civilisation.
A disused swimming pool. ‘Back in the day’ the properties in Charleroi had the highest number of swimming pools in Belgium, we were told, since this was a sign of wealth and prosperity.
The next factory we went to somehow ‘belonged’ to Nicolas. At least, he had a key for security fence in front of the door that had presumably been installed to keep people out. He took us to the roof of the building, where we got a good view across the industrial zone. Grey buildings with the occasional dash of colour left behind by one of the local graffiti artists in an attempt to brighten up the gloom.
Inside the building the local artist community had created an exhibition of various sculptures. The factory was part of the old Cockerill complex, named after John Cockerill, which has now been turned into some kind of an artist’s commune. We sheltered from the rain and ate our sandwiches, before crossing the road and getting on the city metro back towards the train station.
It was raining for the whole of the trip on the metro, and the grey weather and the glances from the other travellers on the metro made me feel a bit uneasy. It was clear that not everyone was in a good financial state, and I suppose a group of ‘tourists’ flashing expensive cameras around didn’t make them feel great either, although personally I had put my camera under my jacket out of the way. We alighted the metro close to where our cars were parked, and started on the next leg of the tour.
Although fully completed and electrically wired, this metro line has never seen service
The lock was evidently to keep the local children out. We were fine going in, we were told, even though we had to climb through a hole in the fence to do so….
One of the projects that Charleroi started in the 1960s was a light rail metro. The original plans were to open up a 48km network, consisting of eight branch lines breaking out from a central downtown loop. Experts said from the start that the project would ultimately fail – normally a city can justify a full metro with a population of around one million, and Charleroi had just one fifth of that number – and they were proven right.
Ultimately only one branch line, part of a second line, and three quarters of the loop were ever opened. Another branch line was partially constructed, and three of the eight stations were fitted out completely with escalators, power cables, and signal lights, but it was determined that the low number of passengers expected would not justify the costs of employing extra staff. So the partially completed line remained uncompleted and unopened, and over time has gradually become the playground of graffiti artists and vandals.
Nicolas is no longer allowed to visit the abandoned part of the metro (the ‘ghost metro’, or ‘spook metro’) due to some ‘disagreements with the authorities’, so he has enlisted the services of his friend Enrico to help him out. Enrico is a colourful character, and before he will take you on a tour, you are invited into his living room to hear stories of how famous he used to be, and to listen to him sing one of his ‘hits’. I’m sure he was very famous back in the day, but a quick google search when I returned home couldn’t find much about him.
To finish off the trip we visited a disused cooling tower (Nicolas heard some police sirens and went and ‘hid’ whilst we were exploring)
Followed by an old metal working factory. At this last stop Nicolas heard a noise and hesitated, suggesting we might be in danger from the local gypsies who’ll steal ‘anything that’s not bolted down, and most things that are bolted down as well’.
All in all, a very interesting walk around a city that seems more than a few years behind the modernisation of the rest of Belgium.
So, is it the ugliest city in the World? Well, you can find a lot of beauty in ugliness, if you know where to look. After all, what do the Dutch know? :p
Images in this blog post made using Leica M-E, and a combination of 21mm Super-Elmar, 28mm Summicron, and 50mm Summilux lenses.
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Chapter Twenty Three: Barcelona, Rotterdam, and a cheap 90mm, June 2014
I’ve not had much luck finding a sharp 90mm lens to go with my rangefinder – every one I have tried has ended up being soft or front focusing, so in desperation I changed my focus from fast lenses to something a bit slower, and picked up an old Elmar-C 90mm f/4 lens for 200 Euros from Fotohandel Delfshaven in Rotterdam.
Considering the cost of this lens is many magnitudes less than other more modern designs, I didn’t really have anything to lose, so I tried it out during a stroll around Rotterdam, and a business trip to Barcelona. 90mm is a nice focal length for people photography when you want to keep a bit of distance between the camera and the subject. With the diminutive size of the Elmar-C it is also very inconspicuous when in use.
I like the results that I can get from this lens. Although the contrast is a bit low straight out of camera, with a bit of post processing in Lightroom it is possible to get some quite punchy images as can be seen in the attached slideshow (click on the thumbnails for larger images, or click ‘show slideshow’ for smaller images)
All images taken with the Leica M-E, 90mm Elmar-C, in Rotterdam Delfhaven, and Place de Catalunya in Barcelona……
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Chapter Twenty Two: Dublin, May 2014
Due to a lack of practical flight connections between Dublin and Amsterdam, I decided to spend an extra night in Ireland after a recent customer event. Although our office is based in Leixlip, I caught the local train in the evening and headed for Dublin city centre.
This was not my first trip to Dublin, but my previous visits have always been in and out on the same day, so I have never had a chance to do any exploring. I decided I would stay on foot, and go from the train station through the shopping streets, across to Temple Bar, and then head off in the direction of the Guinness factory. Although it was only the end of May, the sun wasn’t setting until around half past eight, so I figured I would have a couple of hours of walking time.
Since I was traveling light, I had crammed a spare change of clothes into my Tumi computer bag, and was only able to take my Leica M6, a 35mm Summarit, and a couple of rolls of film.
Shooting film instead of digital always slows me down a bit and makes me think a bit more about what I am photographing, so it is a good way of exploring a new location. I started off with Ilford XP2 for some black and white shots, and finished the evening with a roll of Kodak Portra 400.
Although the Leica Summarit 35mm is a fairly modern lens, it works very well with film, and I am always happy with the sharpness of the negatives that I get back. My workflow consists of scanning the negatives using VueScan, and adjusting the exposure using Camera RAW and/or Lightroom.
Guinness plays a big role in Dublin’s history, and since 1759 has run a brewery at St James’ Gate. Arthur Guinness took over the unused brewery, paying the city 45 GBP per annum for a 9000 year lease. The lease has since been bought out by Guinness, and the site expanded further, becoming the largest brewery in the world by 1886, although the company no longer wears that crown.
The walk around Dublin was enjoyable, although parts of the city are fairly run down. Of course, the abandoned and derelict buildings make for some interesting compositions, so I can’t complain.
I hadn’t read up on the city before I traveled, so my wanderings were very random. By the end of the evening my pedometer was telling me I had walked almost 10km (in my uncomfortable work shoes, no less!) so it was good exercise.
The building below is situated just outside the gates of Dublin Castle. The Sick and Indigent Roomkeepers’ Society is Dublin’s oldest charity and was created in 1790 at a time when the government had little to no policy on alleviating poverty. It was up to the Church and private individuals and institutions to collect money together to assist those in need.
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