New friends and Photography adventures in Sarawak

(one flash to camera left shooting through speedlight prokit 6)

I was standing in front of the new Dewan Undangan Negeri Sarawak, or the DUN as the local call it. The newly constructed Sarawak State assembly building stands at the river bend of the sarawak river, a once strategic location right next to where old Fort Margarita stands. Once upon a time, this old fort guarded this city against raids from bandits and fierce tribal warriors travelling down the river. So when they build the DUN so close to the fort, I started to wonder if there was some symbolism attached to it.

Directly in front of me is the Waterfront. I have not seen this view of the city for more than 10 years. While much of the old city landmark remains unchanged, a lot of the old buildings are gone. Standing there, I thought to myself, I may have been born in this city, 17 years after leaving this place for Ireland, it now feels a little alien to me. I'm almost a tourist in my hometown. I took a few snap shots while Well and Phil make a few phone calls. They were trying to find me a few 'models' for a couple of photo shoot. I got to know Phil and Well through Flickr. They have generously offered to arrange a few shoots for me during my stay in Kuching. Not only that, they also offered to drive me around the city, source location, introduced me to 'models'. They were god sent, without them this leg of my trip would have been a lot less interesting and I would have missed out on the chance to visit some of the interesting locations they brought me to. Not only that, they also double up as VAL (voice activated light stands) during the shoots. All in exchange for exposure to some strobism and some info on the way I shoot.

(one flash to camera light shoting through speedlight prokit 6 high above model)

Well put down the phone and told me," We have a man who's willing to pose for us! He's an old Iban man with lots of tribal tattoo and he works as a guard at a local park! We just have to go find him!" I found this amusing as I've never quite source a 'model' or subject in this manner.

"Let's go," I said. So we hopped into Phil's car and drove to Taman Budaya. Unfortunately for us, our tribal tattoo man was no where to be found. Time for plan B, more phone calls.

We eventually found us a model. Well somehow managed to convince his sister Nolly to pose for us the next day. Nolly has done a few commercial shoots before and was happy to oblige us with a a few shots. Well also managed to access some traditional Iban customes for the shoot. As luck would have it, I also found out my cousins have recently opened a one stop bridal shop. My cousin's fiancee, Feon who is an excellent make up artist agred to do the make up for us next day at 8am.

( one flash camera left high and above model shooting through speedlight prokit 6)

I woke up the next day at 7am to the downpour of tropical rain. I forgot we were in Sarawak in the monsoon season. The weather in Kuching is as unpredictable as the weather in Ireland. I rang Well and suggested perhaps we should just call the shoot off. Phil later rang and told me we might have an indoor location as his uncle who lives next door to him has a wonderful collection of antique jars, gongs and tribal artefacts that would make for interesting backdrop. So we decided to go ahead with the shoot.

The make up began at 8am. On hindsight, perhaps a little too late. We arrived on location around 9.30 am and found out that indoor location wasn't really suitable. Well then informed me that we had to return the costum for 11.00 am as his niece was going to need it for a dance performance. That leaves me about 1 hour to shoot. For a fella who's only shooting fun, this suddenly feels like a paid shooting assigment with time constraints. The presssure was on. With only so little time left, I wasn't about to start moving expensive tribal antiques around for an hour. God knows what would have happened if we broke anything. Lucky for us, the rain clouds had cleared at that stage and the sun came out. We had some serious blazing tropical light at this stage. By god, it was warm and then there's the 100% humidity.

(Crosslighting. One flash thru speedlight pro kit to camera right, high and above. One grid flash to camera left and behind model)

This assignment was tough for me as I wasn't exactly clear in terms of what I wanted out of the shoot. I wasn't interested in just taking a picture of a beautiful girl. I wanted to capture colour, the patterns of the costumes itself, I wanted to portray all that in the right environment. I wanted to capture a little bit of Sarawak but I wasn't quite sure how. So I kept shooting, all the while restraining myself to simple poses. This is not high fashion, I keep telling myself, so no fancy poses. Nolly took to directions well and was a fabulous model. After just over 2 hours, we packed it in and called it a day. I wasn't so sure what I got out of the pics but didn't have time to process them till recently. It seemed ages ago but it was merely over 2 weeks. The break however allowed me to bring a fresh set of eyes to the whole editing process. I enjoyed the colour and the simple lighting we had managed that day.

(crosslighting: flash thru speedlight prokit 6 to camera right and grid flash to camera left behind model)

 

More models for the next day

 

Phil later tells me he had arranged some models for me to shoot somewhere near Serian, in a 'secret' location which he had previously visited. I was intrigued. Abang Syuk, a mate of Phil and Well who introduced the lads to this location at the first place, would be joining is. The theme of this shoot was suppose to be Iban warriors but we had a last minute cancellation. The guys were a no show. The guys however managed to find me a few replacement. I was told, they had lined up for me in short notice, a bidayuh girl in her traditional tribal costume and some a set of Malay girls who were sisters. None of these girls have had any modelling experience but I am grateful for what I'm given. No MUA this time though.

 

  (one flash to camera right shooting through speedlight prokit 6. Some light painting in PP)

This time round, I was again stuck in a situation where I wasn't sure what direction to take the photo session. Normally I had time to ponder but not then. There were so many people waiting for me and I certainly didn't want to keep them waiting. I want to play with fantastical lighting but then I want to make it look close to natural. I am not sure if I succeeded in doing this but on that day, time was very short and the 'secret garden' while beautiful, is a slippery and dangerous tiny waterfall. So lots of limitation to what can be achieved. Time to go with my guts and just shoot. The whole lighting process made so much easier when the lads helped out with the lights. The surface were so uneven, there was no way I could set up lights on the light stands so their help was invaluable.

 

 

(one bare flash to camera right)

 

I wanted to capture the sisters together but compositional wise, it was a little challenging. Lookwise, the sisters were so different, so were the colour of their clothes. Would it work just the same if they all stood in the group or would it be better if  could spread them out, yet still be able to portray them as one entity. It turns the different looks didn't matter. The tighter group shots worked better.

 

 

( one flash camera left shooting through speedlight prokit 6, one flash gridded to camera right just behind tree and model)

  (lighting info below)

The light crew in action:

 
 

Last, something which I frequently forget to do, a group picture. Big thank you to Phil for setting up this group shot and allowing me to use the image for my blog.

 

Once again, many thanks to Phil, Well, Abg Syuk and all the models for making this a wonderful trip for me.

Thank you for reading. Please visit my Flickr page for strobist info on the shoot  and my official website wakphotography.com for information on wedding photography services.