A visit to Pulau Ular (Snake Island) at Cherating, Kuantan - Pahang.

Afternoon session of the second day...simple buffet lunch from the Resort, we had a short rest in the room, follow by the sea activity 'Sight seeing and short trekking at the Snake Island (Pulau Ular)' (N4.05518 E103.40767) which is about 6km away from the beach of Legend Resort Cherating. There are many activities beside this, where you can ride on the ATV and many more...(refer to the last photo of this post)

We went to the island by 2 groups, another group was for island snorkeling. The speed boats waiting for us somewhere nearby the beach, so once we got up the boat, all wet! Haha!

Welcome onboard! Snake Island...here we come!

The speedboat journey took 20 minutes to reach the island (6km), by then we were totally wet again because of the strong waves! I'm glad that my wife & daughter enjoyed the ride very much! (it was their First experience!) The water splash into the boat and to all of us all the time during the journey, we were fortunate enough to met the very kind boatman who offered his 'waterproof bag' for all our cameras and mobile phones! Thanks Mr boatman!

The Snake Island (Pulau Ular)

The small island was beautiful! The water was clear and I saw the fishes swim around....

The beach of Snake Island

Crystal clear water at Snake Island

The beach was full of dead corals...and decorated by some volcanic rocks...

Dead corals were everywhere at the beach...

Interesting rocks formation along the beach...

Scenic view of the surrounding...

Everyone was walking here and there, and some were taking their best shot of the island...the weather that day was hot!
The island is actually just about 1.5km from the nearest beach...

The nearest beach is just about 1.5km away...

Once we finished the photography session at the beach, we separated into 2 groups where the other group was going to enjoy their snorkeling and we started our short trekking at the same time...

The snorkeling group finding their best spot...

Please beware of the jelly fish around if you planning to go for snorkeling, because two of our teammates 'kiss' by the jelly fish during the trip...

We started to hike and going to walk to the highest spot of the island, said by our guide (the boatman).

The trekking started from here...

Our guide - the boatman.

Merely about 10 minutes, we reached the highest spot of the island, the breathtaking view attracted everyone to had a short rest on the beautiful rock! Nice!

There is another smaller island at the back by the name of 'Eagle Island'. According to the boatman, there's an eagle stay on the island. We were lucky enough to spotted that eagle too!

Nice view from the island, the smaller Eagle Island at the back.

That eagle just flew passed us and way back to its home...

We started to walked again after another 5 minutes, the return route was different from where we came from...many bats 'slept' by the huge rock on our way back...

The bats that slept on the rock...

The last path was fill with water before we reach our boats, that was the moment I felt very proud of my daughter! She was scared and doesn't want to pass through initially, but after the encouragements from friends around...she did it at last! I will never forget her expression before and after! Great!

The water path before we get into the boat...

Well...everyone was 'wet' again! Haha!
The total duration of the walk was just about 30 minutes...

Another group of friends enjoyed their snorkeling not far away from the beach...

The snorkeling spot...

The boatman sailed around the island and we speed back to the resort. The trip was excited! Especially when the strong waves splashed into our face! Haha!

I'll advise my friends to visit the island if you never try before! It can become an unforgettable trip for you! 

The activities board at the beach of Legend Resort, Cherating.

Related post :
*  Media FAM Trip 2012 at Cherating, Pahang.

Location map of Snake Island (Pulau Ular) at Cherating, Kuantan - Pahang.

View Larger Map

Myanmar: Ruben Vincente & João Almeida

Ruben Vicente and João Almeida have just inaugurated a photo exhibition of their work from Myanmar (Burma) in Lisbon, just a few minutes away from the Belém neighborhood. It will be available until mid September, and if I lived in Europe, I'd go just to view their images. Yes, I would. I even have the address: Espaço João Sousa Valles Rua Gonçalves Zarco, 2A Lisboa.

Ruben is a freelance photographer (and a computational physicist) and  João is also a freelance photographer (and a web developer), both living and working in Lisbon.

Ruben has just published an excellent ebook titled Myanmar: A Journey Through Time of his photographs, along with cogent and well written travel photography advice for this wonderful country, just emerging from a state of military dictatorship. I know there's a rush of travelers and photographers to Myanamr (Burma)...so do yourself a real favor, buy Ruben's ebook and drop Lonely Planet and the like.

They sent me a short video clip of the photo exhibition, which provides a preview of what attendees will see.



I also have a couple of photographs by Ruben and João to convince you to view their websites, attend the exhibition if you can, and buy Ruben's book.

Photo © Ruben Vincente-All Rights Reserved

Photo © Joao Almeida-All Rights Reserved

Fishermen Village at Cherating, Kuantan - Pahang

After we finished the Cherating River Cruise, we dropped by this Fishermen Village (N4.12160 E103.38425) at Cherating while on the way back to Resort...

Fishermen Village at Cherating

Basically, it was just a small village and nothing much but just for some photography...

Fishermen boats...

The nets...

The man maintain his boat...

He was maintaining his boat...

They do sell some fishes, stingrays and carbs on side...I believe you will get a good bargain on the seafoods...

Crabs...

And we this guy named - Mr Mustapha who is 48 years old and caught a big fish which was 7kg...he was generously show us the big fish! :)

Mr Mustapha with his Mackerel fish...

We hanged around the area for less than 30 minutes and back to the resort.

If you have a tight schedule on your itinerary, you can skip this spot unless you love to take some photos of the Fishermen Village.

Related post :
*  Media FAM Trip 2012 at Cherating, Pahang.

Location map of Fishermen Village of Cherating, Kuantan - Pahang.

View Larger Map

Mauriã Rodrigues Sabbado: Opera Of Sichuan

Photo © Mauriã Rodrigues Sabbado-All Rights Reserved

I was glad to see that Mauriã Rodrigues Sabbado, a Brazilian photographer and a member of my class Introduction To Multimedia Storytelling at the Buenos Aires Foundry Photojournalism Workshop, has recently updated his website with six photo galleries.

Mauriã's documentary photography is centered on Asia, and particularly on Tibet and China. I highlight his gallery Sichuan Opera, which documents a troupe whilst preparing for a performance, and the actual performance itself.

Sichuanese opera is a type of Chinese opera originating in China's Sichuan province around 1700, with Chengdu being its main home. It's well known for its singing, which is more free than the popular Beijing opera form. Sichuan opera is more like a play than other forms of Chinese opera, and the acting is very professional. The music accompanying Sichuanese opera utilizes a small gong and a two stringed traditional "violin".

Joshua Cogan: The Last Jews Of Cochin

Photo © Joshua Cogan-All Rights Reserved

"...I took to the road with a mission: to document vanishing cultures and enrich our understanding of social issue through photography and new media."

Joshua Cogan is a prolific documentarian of cultures, and anthropologist, an interactive producer and a storyteller, whose website has numerous galleries including my favorite, which he titles as In God's Own Land (a more appropriate title than The Last Jews Of Cochin) as it has images of Kerala, whose tourism soubriquet is God's Own Country.

The Cochin Jews, also known as Malabar Jews are the oldest group of Jews in India, who migrated mto India after the fall of Jerusalem in 70 CE. The Jewish area of Mattancherry, the area around its synagogue was once the centre of Cochin jewry, but there are just nine surviving members of the community, all of them over the age of 75, except one.

The surviving members are fluent Malayalam speakers, and follow Jewish customs and rituals diligently.

In addition to Joshua Cogan's galleries on his website, I would point you to an interview made with The Asia Society regarding the forced resettling of the artists living in the Kathputli Colony by the Delhi Development Authority as part of a new housing scheme. New Delhi’s Kathputli Colony has functioned as an artists’ colony for close to 50 years.

The interview is with Joshua Cogan and two of his colleagues, who have recently completed shooting their first documentary, Tomorrow We Disappear, about the Kathputli Colony's resettlement.

Cherating River Cruise at Cherating, Kuantan - Pahang.

Once we finished the simple breakfast from the Legend Resort, all of us heading to Cherating. Yes! We were going for the Cherating River's Cruise. The bus stop at the parking area, and we walked for about 200 meter to the jetty under the Cherating's sun...nice! :)

Part of our team...

We were directed to this jetty and it's belong to Hafiz Cherating Activities (N4.12713 E103.39124) which provide all kind of river activities to the visitors.

The river cruise jetty at Cherating

Before the river cruise, we attended the short safety briefing...and everyone was excited to get into the boat...

The guy who given the safety briefing...

I was attracted by the scenery of the river especially on the sunny day! The river is well maintained and Clean!

Cherating River

And our boat below...

Once everyone ready with the life jackets, we got into the boat one-by-one...well, we need total of 4 boats for the ride. :)

The young ladies (wa-wa) on the same boat...:)

I like this pink canoe!

Everyone was busy taking photos once on the boat, same as our organizer - Mr Anthony. :)

Anthony on action!

The boat of Cherating River Cruise

The journey started...
The boatman spoke very fluent English and provide us many useful information while on the boat...we cruise very slow and enjoyed along the river...

The nature scenery of Cherating River was marvelous!
Camera shutter's sound can be heard almost everywhere...let me show you some photos...

I like the way they built their houses along the river bank...I wish I can have one too! :)

After awhile, we passed by the Famous pub in Cherating - The Little Bali pub and Bistro which is crowded on every evening...

The Little Bali pub and Bistro

The mangrove trees and the roots...

We met a guy that he just caught the crab while we passed by...

The guy who caught a crab with his special net...

Saw this beautiful dead mangrove tree...

Beautiful dead mangrove tree

After a while, our boats went into another small river named - Belat River (N4.13782 E103.39514). The atmosphere was really quite and calm, I felt peaceful...

Entering Belat River of Cherating River...

There were many mangrove snakes, squirrels, monkeys and some mangrove crabs, fishes at the Belat River...the roots of the mangrove tree is different (photo below) from what I experienced at Kukup Island, Johor.

The roots of the mangrove trees look like wave...

There was a interesting part within our journey...we were shocked by the mangrove snake on the tree while the boat approching...:)

There was a mangrove snake on the tree!

And the expression from our teammates....! :)

"Snake on top of you!" We shouted...:)

The Mangrove snake in black and yellow stripes hiding behind the leafs...

The camera man was from TV2...

While we on the way back, the boatman speed up the boat to the estuary of Cherating river...

When the boat speed up, it created a nice scene of the wave...

The total river cruise took about an hour, we were enjoyed the cruise very much! It was a nice nature trip for us at Cherating.

Beside the river cruise, you can have 'fireflies watching, fishing, river to sea, snorkeling at the island trips and river canoing' from the Hafiz River Activities Center. You can find out more information from the Legend Resort Cherating.
Do try out the activities if you happen at Cherating!

Related post :
*  Media FAM Trip 2012 at Cherating, Pahang.

Location map of the jetty for Cherating River Cruise

View Larger Map

POV: Why I Like Bare Concrete Walls...

I like bare concrete walls.

Let me explain why.

Many photo tour leaders are known for setting up photographs for their groups, and it's not unusual for photographers who repeat the same photo trips with the same itinerary to end up shooting the same 'models'...albeit looking a year or two older. I've heard anecdotes of how the 'models' know exactly how to pose, which side of their face is more flattering, and know where the dotted line on model releases are.

Due to the nature of my own photo expeditions-workshops which are "event-specific" and are structured around religious or cultural rituals (the more obscure and unique the better), and because my workshops are based on the concept of "photojournalism meets travel photography", I seldom need to set up pre-arranged photo shoots as such. For one thing, the religious/cultural events that I gravitate towards during these photo expeditions-workshops are too intense, too authentic and too crowded...and consequently make set-ups unnecessary, and possibly even disrespectful.

Moreover,  the type of photographers who sign up for my photo expeditions-workshops are generally well-seasoned, experienced and are self-starters...who, not only are perfectly capable of 'de-clustering' themselves from each other, but do what good photographers do best...look for their own photo opportunities within the framework of the religious and/or cultural events.

That said, there are occasions during my photo expeditions-workshops when characters are so photogenic that they figuratively jump at me, and I just have to set-up a sort of "fashion" shoot, gather the group as quickly as I can, and start the fun. However, and as much as the characters' photogenic attributes are important, the backgrounds are also as critical.

What to do if a uniquely photogenic character presents himself/herself but no appropriate background is found? I suppose carrying some form of portable background (white, black or burlap colored cloth) would solve this problem, but what if this wasn't readily available as it was during a photo shoot at a Kathakali academy on my recent The Oracles of Kerala Photo Expedition-Workshop?

We were photographing the pre-performance make-up session, and I was disappointed at the walls of the make-up area were painted a drab and blotchy kind of salmon pink, which didn't lend itself to an attractive background. However, a corner of the school was being newly built with walls of bare concrete. Bare concrete means gray and everybody knows that it helps in producing a consistent image exposure... so perfect!!!

The probability that we would all end up with the same image was my primary concern, but the light of day was perfect, the costume was perfect, the dancer was image-savvy and the performance was about to start. So we were shooting paparazzi-style for a few minutes...and despite the appearance of what photojournalists (and the military) describe as a "clusterfuck", we were all happy with the opportunity.

I asked the participants of The Oracles of Kerala Photo Expedition-Workshop to send me their favorite(s) photograph from that shoot without telling them why...imagining that their photographs would be identical. They're not. Because of their experience, their difference in shooting styles and because of the dancer's adopting various poses, the results of that particular "clusterfuck" were satisfactory.

So much so that I've used my own image of the shoot for the background of my website.

That's why I like bare concrete walls...and so should you.