Tag Archives: haze

Live Time

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One of the coolest features in the Olympus OM-D camera is its Live Time Mode. With it, you can see a long exposure come to life as it happens. I wanted to add a little magic when photographing the hazy Petronas Twin Towers earlier tonight.

In Live Time Mode, I rotated the camera slowly while hand-holding it and monitored the result on the LCD screen. The car lights, street lights, traffic lights and building lights turned into circular streaks.

When I see the light trails and exposure becoming optimum, I clicked the shutter again to stop the exposure. Previously and with other cameras, B or Bulb Mode is a hit-and-miss or trial-and-error affair.

Live Time reminds me of the time when I was a kid developing prints in the darkroom and seeing the pictures come to life in the chemical trays. Sheer magic!

Olympus OM-D, ISO 200, f11, 8 secs.

Live Time

Reality Bites Like An Eagle

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Back to Klang Valley, I thought I saw an eagle soaring high above misty million-year-old rainforest.

The eagle is actually a 5-foot wide fabric kite flying opposite the fragile Forest Research Institute in Kepong. The mist is dirty haze. Reality bites like an eagle.

Where Eagles Soar

Into The Fire

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Continuing my journey to the heart of the fire, I finally got as close as I could without scorching the lens. In fact, the heat was so intense I had to back off only after a few seconds. The long walk into the smoky paddy fields under twilight was rewarding. The sunset and flames combined for a rare, beautiful and surreal picture.

I spoke to the farmer involved and he told me he applied selective strip burning in which he burns one ‘keping’ or plot at a time. Unlike large scale land clearing, the fire is isolated, contained and extinguishes quite fast.

It is unfortunate that the rice replanting season coincides with the transboundary haze and the farmers get affected too. As I drove home in the night, I heard on the radio that the Department of Environment announced a ban on open burning.

Olympus OM-D, ISO 200, f7.1, 1/160 sec.

Into The Fire