I'm Ryo, just a common teen you'll find in a common college in Malaysia, with a passion for photography. Just recently though, I was crowned as one of the four Grand Winners from Malaysia for a competition - the National Geographic Channel Young Photographer Awards. The prizes? A Canon EOS 600D DSLR (with a 18-55mm kit lens), and a phototrail-cum-trip to Bali, Indonesia with Canon Singapore's resident photographer, Jino Lee.
This, is Jino.
The decision to accept the prize isn't an easy one - as the photo trail's date clashed with my upcoming Advanced Subsidiary examinations; particularly the Physics subject. And, as an official from Fox International Channels kindly informed me, I needed to be able to attend the photo trail for me to retain the prizes.
I had to face a hard choice - examinations, or a 600D and a trip to Bali? If I chose examinations, I would have to forfeit the competition's prizes - I would never get a DSLR until I start working, and I won't have the chance to attend the photo trail in Bali; If, on another hand, I chose the prizes, I would have to forfeit my Physics paper for this semester, which puts my academical future in potential jeopardy.
I admit, this was a hard choice to make - I initially made the decision of forfeiting the Grand Winner nomination, but I shed tears over it; tears that I wouldn't be able to make my parents proud after all; tears that I would have to postpone my first DSLR again; tears that I have failed in my own personal mission: to prove to the world that normal Point-and-Shoot digital camera users can indeed best DSLR camera users, to prove that it's not about the tools you use, but the skills you have.
Here's the log of my dilemma, along with the advice of some friends.
In the end, I chose to postpone my Physics subject, and go for the National Geographic prize instead. Looking back, I think it was the best decision I could've made in that situation :).
I wrote a letter to my school to apply for a withdrawal for the Physics paper, and Madam Looi - our Head of School, heard about it, and summoned me for a small talk. According to her, she's forwarded the news to our college principal, he's happy, and wants the news to be published in a school bulletin.
The article was published on the 1st of June, aaaand the link is here.
After confirming my position as one of the Grand Winners of the competition, I then proceeded to the prize-giving ceremony of the competition, which was held in Taylor's Lakeside Campus, on the 5th of May. The day was actually the same day for a photography seminar held by Ira Block, a famed National Geographic photographer - a person whose articles I have read countless times in National Geographic, and a person whom I truly respect. A sense of foreboding hit me, however, as I noted that the other three winners were all already using a DSLR; My petite Panasonic Lumix never did get out of its small pouch the entire ceremony.
Me, after getting the prize :)
Fast-forward to the day of the trip. 29th May 2012.
Day 1
I boarded a shuttle bus by myself from KL Sentral to LCCT Airport around 6.30 in the morning, reaching the airport around 8, where I then messaged the other 3 winners and all. Met up with all of them eventually and we proceeded to complete the check-in, baggage check and stuff - usual airport procedure. It was a first for me though, truth be told.
Reached Denpasar Airport at around 1.50pm, where we then met up with the Singaporeans.
There was Jino the photography instructor, Peiwen the organizer, Peiwen's mum, Alvin, Ian, Sebastian, and Ryan. From the Malaysian side - Ryo, Dhanisha, Asyraf and Hasanul.
After having a small meal, we proceeded to the hotel - Uma by Como, somewhere in Ubud, which was a kinda quiet place comparatively. The environment there was awesome. I guess I'll let photos tell the story for a while :).
Our room - shared by me, Alvin, and Ian.
Our bedroom :D
The bathtub on the right, and the shower room on the left.
Indus! The restaurant where we had our dinner on the first night.
The main course for our dinner.
Aaaand, just a random shot xD.
The dinner was awesome, the environment was awesome, and yeah, the people are pretty friendly, and it wasn't too long till we Malaysians and Singaporeans got to know each other, and chatted like there's no tomorrow.
Day 2
We woke up at 3am in the morning, had breakfast, and headed out at 4.15am, to our first destination - Lake Kintamani. The journey was further spiced up by the presence of heavy fog, which clouded the drivers' visions, and they had to stop while waiting for the mist to subside a bit.
A black-and-white overview of the entire scene, with a small wooden jetty at the left, and an array of boats on the right.
Black-and-white! :D
A wide-angle of the still-active volcano.
Later we went over to the traditional market in the village - man, the people there are superfriendly and warm :)
The cobbler in action!
Legumes! Mehhh :D
Curious little child :)
Guy with his cigarette!
The daughter of an ice-cream seller (I think)
Old guy with his antique sewing machine!
Tehee :B
We prowled the market for like 2 hours - skimming around for subjects, for interesting colours, patterns etc. One thing I've noticed; there's never an end to the emotion, the culture and the warmness that filled Bali. A heaven of cultures indeed.
We then headed to Tanah Lot in the evening - a must-go for travelers and photographers a like, it offers an awesome sea breeze, tonnes of souvenir shops, and a beautiful landscape.
Tanah lot, the main temple, in HDR :) sadly I don't have an ND filter for the silk-water effect.
The silhouette of the photographers, and plenty other tourists.
We shot this from a stall nearby, overlooking the temple!
Day 3
The third day started off with another early morning call, after which we headed to Kumsamba, for the salt farms :D
Rising sun.
Fresh pure salt! High graded ones :D
The salt-farmer's family.
Aaaaand, we went to witness a cock-fighting match in a nearby village!
The old uncle happily stroking his cock.. .. .. Uh.
A handicraft seller at another nearby village.
Pakcik Muzik Bambu xD.
The homemade swing in the village! Ingenious, I'd say.
The collections of masks and mini sculptures etc! Mind-boggling.
We ended the day trip with an partial arsenal of our cameras. Mine's not in there :'(.
Day 4
The fourth day commenced with us heading to Bratan Lake in Bedugul to shoot the pagoda, and yeah, some traditional-clothed Balinese girls :)
The canoe, framed against the pagodas as a backdrop.
The lump of wood that looked suspiciously like a wooden duck.
Everyone went crazy as we played on this spinning thingy!
One of the quite-pretty Balinese girls :)
A random shot at the place where we had our breakfast.
In the evening, we headed over to Uluwatu, to witness a Kechak dance performance, and not to say, the stunning scenery at the cliffs.
Graaaand.
The performance, and the spectators.
The trip ended that night, with a spectacular karaoke performance from plenty of us - singing pop songs from Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and even Myanmar. Everything ended quite well I would say, and I never regretted my decision of choosing Natgeo over exams.
The trip has been an eye-opener indeed for me -
- I have learnt that friends can be found wherever, all over the world, as long as you're friendly.
- I have learnt that gears don't really matter much, you can survive using a very cheap basic camera, but then gears do give you a minor advantage.
- I have learnt that I needed to invest in a polarizer.
- I have learnt and understood life, itself.
A trip that I'll never forget, not to say the participants too. Totally awesome memories :').
P/S: The photos here are mostly unedited and untouched.
Signing off,
Ruiyou.
