Bon Odori 2013 – Part 1

Bon Odori is a Japanese cultural festival celebrated during summer. At the Panasonic Sports Complex tonight, the Japanese community and their Malaysian friends danced together in a circle to honour the spirits of ancestors.

The 37th Bon Odori was organised by The Japan Club of KL, The Japanese School Of Kuala Lumpur and The Embassy Of Japan.

Photography Notes: Because it was twilight, I decided to combine a slow shutter with flash when photographing this dancing mother. The flash lit the foreground faces while the slow shutter preserved the fading blue sky in the background. The shutter speed was also slow enough to blur movement, thereby injecting some dynamism into a frozen scene.

Olympus OM-D, ISO 200, f4, 1/10 sec with FL-50R flash.

Bon Odori 2013 - Part 1

UFO Landing

The night an Unidentified Flying Object landed. The parents were held spellbound, the frightened young daughter ran away and the teenage son whipped out his phone to video the close encounter. In this day and age, the aliens will be on YouTube faster than they can say “Take Me To Your Leader”.

The original picture was a scene I photographed of a family of beachcombers admiring the sunset. The boy was trying to capture the sun with his mobile phone. I changed the colours, curves and added a soft haze to the surroundings.

Olympus OM-D, ISO 200, f11, 1/1250 sec.

UFO Landing