The annual Nine Emperor Gods Festival begins today. The deities arrived last night by boat and was escorted to the Ampang Temple with a street procession. Here’s a short photo essay with a few photography tips…

Young Worshippers

Kids, ultra-wide angle lens and the black & white filter always work well.  For the wide angle to be effective, get down and stick the camera close. Of course, ask the parent’s permission before you do that.

Guarding The Throne

Unlike those Buckingham Palace Guards, these two young chaps get distracted easily. Who can blame them. See next pic

Divide And Drool

The standard attire for female worshippers, the hot pants, are getting shorter each year. Here, I used the pillar as a visual metaphor.

Smoke-Free Room

With so much smoke from the joss sticks, I was crying non-stop. Found this little refuge to wipe my tears but several photographers (who recognised me) came crying for a different reason.

They asked me why their pictures were full of raindrops even it wasn’t even raining! The answer is simple. Their flash captured those tiny ash particles floating in the air. Don’t use flash, young grasshoppers.

Kow Wong Yeh's Reserved Parking

To my embarrassment, I quickly found out I was sitting on the gods’ official parking bays. After the deities disembarked inside the temple, the chariots are parked here for the next nine days.

iPhone vs dSLR Shootout

The Olympus camera’s white balance can be so accurate that a scene can become clinical white (cold). After stepping into the altar area, I did a manual white balance to add a bit of bias towards red. It helped retain the warm atmosphere within.

The Black Duckling

Black in a sea of white makes an interesting visual counter-point. To get better pics, you need to kneel too. Get down to the worshippers’ level for a more interesting POV.

See also: MyCen Map to Nine Emperor Gods Temple in Ampang

All pictures photographed with the Olympus Pen E-PL2 by & © TV Smith

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