In Search of Peace and Serenity IV - Resemblance

I found myself again at the same spot. This place has been presenting me with massive photographing opportunities but I would like to take my time to digest and capture the content of what this place can bring to me. Here's another shot called Resemblance. If you look closely, you'll notice that the shape of the tree on the foreground is about the same as the shape of the island at the back.

Resemblance

High tide, Pantai Jeram, Jan 2011
Hasselblad 553ELX, CZ 120 makro planar
Fuji Acros 100, Hc110 Dil E (1:47) 7mins @ 20C

Taking Cambo Jumbo out to play!

I've recently managed to figure out how to mount my 9-stop filter on my large format lens. The front end of the lens is too big to be fitted with any filter, so the other option is to mount the filter on the rear of the lens, carefully tho. I bought a 77-67mm step down ring, then step it up again to get back to 77mm as I couldn't mount the filter directly to the lens due to the curvature of the lens rear element. Now that I've managed to mount the big stopper, it's time to take the 8x10 camera out to the coastlines :)

Cambo Legend 8x10 with Caltar S-II 300mm f5.6 on Ilford Delta 100. Fitted with Hoya ND400 filter. Scene was metered at f45, 4mins. Calculating the compensation for Delta 100's reciprocity failure, the corrected exposure was determined at 9mins 30secs. The sheet was developed with Kodak HC110 Dilution E (1:49) for 7 mins 30secs @ 20C.

In Search of Peace and Serenity III - The Journey of Life

The journey of life is an adventure into the unknown. The lifespan varies. This applies to nature, human and even the invention of mankind.

"To some, life is a very long journey,
To some others, it never even started.."

Dead trees pond, near Pantai Remis, Jan 2011

What attracted me to this shot was the 2 different elements of nature and manmade structure. The massive curls and bends of the trees symbolizes the long life lived, and the winding path thru life. The absence of leaves shows the presence of death or 'end of the road' for the trees. On the other hand, there's this small piece of concrete that was meant to be an architectural structure of some sort, perhaps a hut, small building, etc. that was left abandoned. For the structure, life was very short, in fact it's life ended prematurely.. in contrast to the life lived by the trees.

Shot on Hasselblad 553ELX with CZ 120 Makro Planar, on Fuji Acros 100. Developed with Kodak HC110 Dilution E (1:49) 7 mins @ 20C

In Search of Peace and Serenity II - The Struggle for Life

Continuing the "In Search of Peach and Serenity", me and wife together with another friend, Malee, ventured to Klang for another quick trip there. One particular tree caught my attention there..

The Struggle for Life

It really caught my attention to see how the tree sort of balanced itself to gain a strong grasp of the Earth.. to live. It was an overcast day, but for a very short time frame, the sun shines giving the tree its glow, enhancing the details of the tree with beautiful highlights and shadows. Sort of like a blessing. If you look further into the photo, you'll see a fishing boat symbolizing the struggles of human for life as well, against the vast sea.

Shot with Hasselblad 553elx, Zeiss 120 Makro Planar CF on Fuji Acros 100. Developed with Kodak HC110 Dilution E (1:49) 7mins @ 20C.

Pushing Tri-X to the Extreme (ASA25600)

Back in July during a photo trip to Kelantan with Eddieputera and Sarip, I've had the chance to shoot a scene that is pitch black. It was a scene at the fishing dock where a fishing vessel stopped by for a rest after being in the sea for about 1 month. That night there was a storm brewing so super dark clouds engulfed the skies. There's no other light source around except a couple light bulbs on the vessel itself. It was raining heavily and that made the shot even tougher. I wanted to capture this shot at a fraction of a second. Putting it on long exposure would've made the vessel blur. Yes, I could probably get away with a 1-2 sec shot at a lower ASA, but I figured, might as well hit the extreme just for the sake of trying and testing out the pushing capabilities of this film.

This shot was metered at ASA25,600. Having a Tri-X on my Hassy back, I've decided to give it a go. After doing some research on the flow to push the Tri-X up 6-stops, I've settled with the following..

Rodinal 1:100, 3 hours semi stand development with 2 swirls to the tank every 30mins. After 1 1/2 hours, I replaced the developer with a fresh batch (to avoid the risk of exhaustion).

What I got was a muddy negs. Putting it onto the scanner, here's what I got. No tweaking on this scan. I kinda like the look.

I did played around in Photoshop, where I set the black for the tones. Here's what I got.

All in all, I think I prefer the original look better. It looks classical and seemed very special, considering the circumstances that I had to go thru to shot this scene, plus the darkroom processes afterwards. I will remember this shot for a very long time.. will be printing it and framed it on my wall.

In Search of Peace and Serenity - Kg Telok, Port Dickson

It has been so long since I last do landscape works. Last weekend, wifey suggested that we went for a drive to Port Dickson. After all that happened to us in the past few weeks, we needed search for calmness and sense of serenity. A short roadtrip to a calm seaside would do the trick.

I remembered a shot from a good friend, Liewwk at this spot. I asked him for the directions, checked out the tides schedule for Port Dickson and off we went in the morning.

Here's some shots during the high tide when we were there.. This is just the first trip. We will revisit this place again, during low tide, for sure ;)

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A Path to Paradise - A long and winding journey to happiness. Sometimes it's smooth, sometimes there a detour filled with obstacles and sometimes it seems to be an impossible task to reach eternal happiness. Determination ensure the success to achieve that rewarding end.

A State of Perseverance - Life can be very challenging at times. Series of continuous waves of obstacles and tests hits at you at all times to test how strong your character is. Patience is a virtue. The patience to withstand those waves renders a much more soothing and calm outcome, silky smooth.

The One that Got Away -The toughest test by far me and my wife have ever experienced. He will remain in both our memories forever. The storyline has been written beforehand, we can only put our efforts and hope for the best. By far the best 20 weeks EVER experienced.. but shortlived. May you rest in peace, "anak ayah"...

Life surely goes on.. what happened has brought us closer together. It's for the best.. we're sure of that. There will be more of these works from me.. "In search of peace and serenity"...

*Photos shot using Hasselblad 553ELX with CZ 50mm Distagon and 120mm Makro Planar with Hoya ND400 on Fuji Acros 100. Developed using HC110 Dilution F.