Vacancy For Two - Charcoal Factory, Kuala Sepetang

Had an opportunity to visit again the Charcoal Factory in Kuala Sepetang, Perak a couple months back to make some photos using my Yashica MAT 124G. Shot about 2-3 rolls of B&W film there. One of the shot was taken then I saw a chair and a bicycle parked next to each other, with some light from the outside. There was something special about this shot. Went back home, developed the roll and scanned the shot. Was very happy with the outcome.

Vacancy for Two, Kuala Sepetang, January 2010
Yashica MAT124G | Ilford HP5+ 400.
Ilford LC29 1+29, 6mins 15sec@24C, agitation continuous first 30sec, 10 sec every subsequent minute
Ilfostop 1 min
Ilford Rapid Fixer 4 mins

Several months later, a very good friend has offered to print it for me. Here's a scan of the print that he did. There's 2 versions of the print.

Version 1 - Paper - Ilford MGWTFB, Lith Printing and Selenium toning



Version 2 - Paper - Ilford MGWTFB, Lith Printing, Selenium toning, Bleached and Redeveloped

Thank you Morpheuse for the prints =)

Kuala Sepetang Charcoal Factory - A memorable phototrip

In conjunction with the ShutterAsia 2nd Anniversary celebration, a photo trip to the charcoal factory in Kuala Sepetang, Perak was organized. A group of 15-20 members came in from the Northern, Central region and KL. Despite of the coming in from different places, we managed to meet up at the charcoal factory in between 9-10am. One of the factory managers was kind enough to give us a briefing on the process of producing charcoal.

I have set in mind that I'll be producing black and whites, so most of the shots are in B&W to add a historic/nostalgic mood to it. However, some shots are left in color as it was best to do so..


#1 - Boats are used to transport the woods from the mangrove forest nearby to the factory.


#2 - The barks are skinned off before being put in the chamber.


#3 - Hardworking villagers been doing this job for generations.


#4- A hardworking villager


#5 - An old school transporter


#6 - The burning chamber



It really was an interesting and memorable photo trip. I wouldn't mind visiting this place again..