So what are the gear that we need , mainly

• A Flash.  Personally I prefer a Nikon Speedlights for its portability.  The good thing about operating the flash in manual mode means we could still use some of the older Nikon Speedlights models like SB-22, SB-28 etc.  However if you have other brand of flash, they are still usable.

• Triggers – There must be a way to trigger off the flash. There are the cheap ways (not so reliable)  or the expensive way (very reliable). The ones I used are from ebay  which are cheap and pretty reliable .

Want to learn more?  Enroll for our Off camera Flash Photography Course here

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This year the event was on 11 Apr 10. The weather was great but it got really hot towards noon. Of course the light also got harsher. I shoot mainly with prime lenses, 16mm, 50mm and 90mm with the manual 16mm fisheye lens was my main workhorse that day.
Here are some photos to share.

Bowing before going up the clubhouse

Lion Head having a suntan on the lorry

Zhoujia senior conducting the basic routine

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Stock Photography

It used to be very expensive buying a photo from a traditional stock agency before the days of the Internet. Sock agencies had to publish thick catalogs showing the photographs in their library. The fees to license the use of a stock photo is not cheap too.

With the internet and subsequently microstock websites, all these has changed. You are able to license a photo for use for your website, brochure, annual reports  etc for a few dollars. For photographers, you will get paid by a certain percentage of the selling price. That means usually in the region of 20 cents or more for every download by a microstock buyer.

As a photographer, this opens another stream of revenue for you.  You need to submit your photographs to the various microstock agencies.  The most popular microstock agencies are :

• Shutterstock
• Fotolia
• 123rf.com
• istockphoto

The sign up process is usually similar among the agencies :

• Filled up the registration forms
• Submit an initial set of photos (usually 10) and the agencies will review them. Once approved you can start to upload the rest of your works.
• Wait for buyers to download your photos.
• Collect your earnings once it hit a certain sum.

So add microstock photography as another revenue stream for you in the Year of the Tiger!

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1. Harper’s BAZAAR & ION Photography Awards

MandalayHil

From Kalaw I would move on to Mandalay, where I have the most interesting encounter with a trishaw driver, Mr Win Tin. Mr Win Tin offered to drive me around Mandalay. I told him I would get him to give me a ride down to U Bein Bridge in the afternoon if he was still around when I came back after a walk around the town. I walked away thinking that he would not be waiting at the same spot after a span of a few hours since he could ferry other tourists around. Guess what! Mr Win Tin was still there when I walked back in the afternoon. He had no customer from morning to almost 3 pm in the afternoon. Life certainly is not easy in Myanmar! Anyway I struck adeal with him to bring me to U Bein Bridge to watch the sunset for 3,000 Kyats.

Along the way, I found out that Mr Win Tin was in his forties and rented a trishaw everyday. He could speak English well and was knowledgeable. He appreciated independent travellers as they would contribute directly to the locals’ earnings as compared to tourists who signed up with the government tour agencies.  The best sunset that I saw during the trip was at U Bein Bridge and I really thanked Mr Win Tin for bringing me there.

Final Destination
My final leg in Myanmar was to Bagan where I stayed in Nyaung U. I rented a one-speed China made, Hero brand bicycle from the hotel for 500 Kyats. One would immediately start to feel the spirit of Old Bagan .
There are simply too many great pagodas in Bagan. A few magnificent ones are Thanibyinnyu Pahto, Gawdawpalin Pahto and Ananda Paht. It was a pity that the staircases leading up to the second and third levels terraces of these pagodas were barricaded. After two hours of walking and cycling I felt tired and took a rest at a local restaurant. I spent some time sitting and chatting with the restaurant owners. One of their family friends (named Zaw Zaw) was an artist and started to join in the chat. With evening approaching, I left the restaurant to find a good spot to capture the sunset.

With my map I navigated to some unknown pagoda where I did get my shots. Then came the challenging part- cycling in the dark. It was different cycling in the dark. You could feel some insects bumping into your face while you were cycling on the dirt track. The main road was better but there were no lamp posts to light the path. I was cycling slowly and at times vehicles behind shone the path for me with their head lights.

Temple at Old Bagan

The next day I decided to venture further by going to New Bagan which was several kilometres away from Old Bagan. In 1990, the residents in Old Bagan were given one week notice to move from Old Bagan to New Bagan. New Bagan was just plots of peanut fields then. New Bagan was quieter, though there were some guesthouses there. I did more pagoda visiting and in a twist of fate, I saw Zaw Zaw, the artist I met the day before at the restaurant. He was selling his art pieces there and warmly invited me for a cup of tea afterwards.

Something interesting happened that night. There was a stage show going on which was similar to our lunar seventh month Ge-tai show. They have drama, songs and dance. The only difference was that the show can last from 9 pm to 6 am in the morning. In between they just blasted music from the loudspeakers. Obviously I did not sleep a wink that night as I could hear the music from my room loud and clear. Lesson learnt-Bring ear plugs!

When it was time to leave Myanmar, I realised that the beauty of this country is in the people and its beautiful scenery. Never mind the political situation, I would recommend you to visit Myanmar and experience it yourself.

Related posts:

1. Experience of a Lifetime – Myanmar – Part 1
2. Experience of a Lifetime – Myanmar – Part 2
3. Remembering the people of Myanmar

Inle Lake Rower

Inle Lake

 

 

 I was glad I visited the Golden Rock temple and happily I set off for my ride back to Bago (K2500) the next morning. This was the start of a backbreaking 16 hours bus journey to Inle Lake via Bago. I paid and another 500 Kyats to upgrade my seat to sit next to the bus captain. Was it worth the ‘upgrade’? Well my 1.78cm body frame could use whatever extra space I could pay for. Again, this was not a tourist bus but a local bus. Ninety percent of the passengers were local. At times, you might have goats as company too.

Did I mention that the driver like to sound the horns ery often? Finally after about 18 hours of bus journey (multiple unscheduled tea/pee breaks, dinner break in between), I reached Shwenyaung at 4 am. With four
other fellow independent travellers, we shared a minivan to take the five of us to Nyaung Shwe.

I spent the next day exploring Inle Lake on a motorized canoe. Here is the place where you will see the famous leg rowers. It is a distinctive rowing style which involves standing at the stern on one leg and wrapping the other leg around the oar. The calm waters of Inle Lake coupled with the blue sky and green vegetation, made it a beautiful sight just to sit down and admire. We visited pagodas, an umbrella making factory, a silverware factory,weaving factory and other industries that the villages depended on for a livelihood. Of course, no visit was complete without going to the Jumping Cat Monastery where the monks trained cats to jump through
loops. Not really useful skills to have but the monks and the cats were quite entertaining.

Pick Me Ups at Kalaw
The staff at the guesthouse arranged for a taxi driver to bring me to Shwenyaung where I would then take a pickup to Kalaw. I was enjoying talking to this young taxi driver who was taking a correspondence degree course when I noticed that both the odometer and speedometer of his taxi were not working. I decided later to let him focus on his driving instead. When we reached Shwenyaung, he quickly found me a Mektila-bound pickup that would pass by Kalaw.

Monk at Kalaw

Kalaw is 1,320 metres high and reminded me of the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia. Even the British colonial houses looked similar. The weather was cooling as I walked into Myoma Kyuang, which is a monastery. A 10 year old monk led me into the halls where he was staying. These kids were fun to be with. They were curious about the digital SLR camera that I had and would crowd around me looking at the photographs I took of them. No package tours could give you experiences like this. If you interested to rough it out, you could sign
up for a day trek or simply relax in Kalaw. When I was there, there was a fun fair where many “gambling”
stalls were doing business. It was basically a dice game played by releasing three giant dices onto a board and
one could bet on the sum of the three dices. The stalls were well-patronised including monks! Guess gambling is enjoyed by all people.

Related posts:

1. Myanmar Monk
2. Experience of a Lifetime – Myanmar – Part 1
3. Experience of a Lifetime – Myanmar – Part 3

The hotel website said the Shwedagon Paya in Yangon is within walking distance. Well the truth was- it would be a very long walk! I took a taxi instead. Shwedagon Paya is the most sacred Buddhist pagoda for the Burmese with relics of the past four Buddhas enshrined within. It is best visited at night when the marble grounds are cooled. The local crowds came to perform offerings and prayers or simply to sit and gaze at the Buddhas. The main stupa was lighted throughout the night by tungsten lights giving it a warm golden glow. 

Of  Wheels and Thrills
After the visit, I tried to catch a bus back to the inner city of Yangon. A visiting monk from Mandalay helped me by asking a Yangon local which bus to take. All the bus service numbers were written in Burmese text which added to the difficulty of navigating around. Most buses do not have many seats in order to allow more standing room and it could get pretty squeezy. I took a taxi to the area where pickup trucks going to Bago were based. The pickup truck was fitted with benches on both sides and it would depart once the seats were filled up. The back seats might start off comfortable, but along the way when seats ran out, you had to stand and hold on to the railings. I paid a bit more to sit next to the driver.

From Bago, I did a quick transfer to a bus that would bring me to reach Kin Pun, which is the base village to Kyaiktyo. To go to the famous Golden Rock Temple from Kin Pun, you need to take a 45-minute truck ride. The experience was worth it! It was a like a roller coaster ride as the truck went up and down the slopes and going around tight corners. The truck had about 6 wooden benches laid across it. Each bench would sit, very uncomfortably six people. You will be packed shoulder to shoulder and not much room to move about. If you have long legs, more bad news for you! The distance between each bench was short. My legs can only go under the bench in front. So my thighs were pressed up against the bottom of the bench in front of me! At the end of the truck ride, you would still need to walk up the slopes for about 45 minutes. Porters and sedan chairs carriers were around to help if your legs and knees could not take the walk. Of course I
braved up to the challenge and walked along with the locals. The temple was crowded maybe because it was a Sunday. Most of the visitors were locals making an overnight trip to the Golden Rock temple. I reached
the temple at about 4 pm and decided to wait forsunset. The sunset was great with golden glow radiating
through the clouds.

Sunset at Kyaiktiyo where the famous Golden Rock Temple is.

I could not stay too long as I needed to descend to catch the truck back. It was a long wait before the fully loaded truck moved off. Later I found out that due to the lack of lights and the steep slopes, they have to wait for the five trucks that were coming up the slopes to reach first before we could travel down. With no street lamps along the way down, another rollercoaster ride, this time under the starry sky. Due to the tight squeeze and lack of space, my limbs were numbed when we reached Kin Pun. The next morning I found that I have bruises on my thighs! I must have pressed too hard against the bench in front of me.

Related posts:

1. Experience of a Lifetime – Myanmar – Part 3
2. Experience of a Lifetime – Myanmar – Part 2
3. Travel Photography

1. Manual or instruction booklet

I know many of us put this aside once the camera is out of the box.  DO keep it around as you may need to refer to it at one point or another on some of the functions. The 80/20 rule works here. You only use 20% of the camera functions for 80% of the time. For the other 20% of the time , you may need to refer to the manual.

2. Manual exposure mode

Besides Aperture priority and shutter priority, we have the manual mode where we controls both the Aperture and shutter speeds. Most commonly used for off camera (also know as strobist shoots), night shoot and studio shoot .

3. Manual Focus

Auto focusing is the norm these days that some folks can’t get totally blur photos.  You just need to switch to manual focus and turn your focusing ring.

4. Manual Flash Control

Forget about TTL. Set the manual mode of your flash to manual and control the flash output power. Just like the old good days. 

Any more “manuals” that you can think of?

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Not all photo labs are the same. Typically those (not all) found in HDB  estates that offers express service or charge low do not give good results.
Below are the few that I used before. Personally I prefer Fujifilm labs as their photos prints usually give vibrant colors especially for green, blue and red. No price is listed here so do check with the shops before committing to your printing.

1. Konota
111 North Bridge Road, #01-26 Peninsula Plaza,Singapore 179098

Conveniently located in the “Golden Triangle” of photography,  I usually used them for 4R prints.  Turnover time is usually the next working day.  They never disappoint me with their printing.

2. Kim Tian Color Centre
Blk 531 Upper Cross Street #01-06 Hong Lim Complex, Singapore 050531

Good for those who are working in Raffles Place area, this shop provides good service and print. For 8R and S8R prints, I usually go to them as they offer one of the best price.  Turnover time is usually the next working day but if you catch them at the right time (ie they are using the right paper, right size), you may go for a meal and collect your prints back within an hour or 2.

3.  Shalom Colorlab
Blk 231 Bain St #01-77 Bras Basah Complex-Blk 231. Singapore. 180231

Yet another Fujifilm lab.  I have not been there for a while but I used for printing some larger print for some exhibitions.

There are other good labs in Singapore but I have not tried them personally.

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Located 40mins by ferry from Lumut town, Pulau Pangkor hosts a series of chalets and resorts on its various beaches.  Here are 2 of my sunset photos taken during my last trip there.

Sunset at Pulau Pangkor

Sunset at Pulau Pangkor

To learn how to shoot on sunset/sunrise photos, read my tips or enrol in my Foundation Photography course.

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